In 2025, Garrett Whitlock re-emerged as a bullpen star for the Red Sox. In 2026, he will start his season representing his country.

Whitlock and his agency, Stadium Ventures, confirmed Saturday on Instagram that Whitlock will represent Team USA in the World Baseball Classic in March. The right-hander joins stars Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh, Paul Skenes, Bobby Witt Jr., Pete Crow-Armstrong and Corbin Carroll as the United States’ early commits for the tournament, which begins March 6 in Houston.

Whitlock is the first Red Sox player to suit up for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic since Shane Victorino in 2013. In 2009, both Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis played. In the inaugural 2006 tournament, Mike Timlin and Jason Varitek represented the Red Sox.

After a stellar rookie season in 2021, injuries limited Whitlock to just 168 ⅓ total innings between 2022 and 2024. His 2024 season ended after four starts due to elbow surgery. He returned as a reliever in 2025 and had a dominant year, emerging as a top setup option ahead of closer Aroldis Chapman and logging a 2.25 ERA while striking out 91 batters in 72 innings over 62 games. In his last 31 games of the season (from July 6 on), Whitlock allowed one earned run in 30 innings (0.30 ERA) while striking out 40 batters and walking just five. He projects to once again be Alex Cora’s eighth-inning man in 2026.

At the general managers meetings in Las Vegas earlier this month, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said the Red Sox are still going through the process of granting permission for players to participate in the WBC, a commitment that requires players to leave spring training early and potentially be away from their MLB teams through March 17, which is the championship game.

Multiple Red Sox players have expressed interest in participating but have not made firm commitments like Whitlock. Jarren Duran and Marcelo Mayer (Mexico), Chapman (Great Britain), Masataka Yoshida (Japan), Ceddanne Rafaela (Netherlands), Wilyer Abreu and Carlos Narváez (Venezuela) and Brayan Bello (Dominican Republic) are all candidates to play while Roman Anthony, Trevor Story and Garrett Crochet could be candidates to join Whitlock on Team USA if interested.

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