FORT MYERS, Fla. — When Boston Red Sox reliever Garrett Whitlock reports to Team USA for next month’s World Baseball Classic, he’ll become teammates with one of the greatest pitchers of the century.

Whitlock wonders if this future first-ballot Hall of Famer will remember him.

It was late July 2025, and the Los Angeles Dodgers were in Boston for the weekend. Enjoying one of several Thursdays the Red Sox had off last season, Whitlock and his wife, Jordan, were downtown at Faneuil Hall for a special shopping trip.

“Me and my wife, we had just found out we were having our second boy, and so we were at Build-A-Bear Workshop,” Whitlock told the Herald. “And I walked out of Build-A-Bear, and I was like, ‘Ah, I’ll be that guy.’ And so I walked up and I was like, ‘Hey Clayton, my name’s Garrett. I pitch for Boston, and I just wanted to say hi and introduce myself.’

“He was just like, ‘Oh, hey man. How are you?’ Super nice guy, but I was like, man, I feel bad. That guy has no clue who I am.”

Though both men pitched two days later in the same game, they didn’t have any further interactions that weekend or otherwise.

“I feel like that’ll be a funny conversation starter, like, ‘Hey man, do you remember that random guy that stopped you outside the Hall? That was me,’” Whitlock said with a laugh.

Regardless of Kershaw’s answer, Whitlock is thrilled and honored to be suiting up for Team USA. He’s looking forward to talking shop with Kershaw and 2025 Cy Young Award winners Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal, and reuniting with former Red Sox teammate Michael Wacha.

“Me and AC (Alex Cora) were talking about it today,” Whitlock said. “We’ve had a lot of good veterans that have come through here in my time, where I’ve been able to bounce ideas off of a lot of really good minds. And that’s what I’m looking forward to most about the WBC, just learning from the vets and everything.”

Kershaw isn’t the only veteran lefty Whitlock assumes won’t recognize him.

“I’ve actually followed Matthew Boyd for a long time, I’m not sure he even knows who I am,” the ever-modest righty said. “I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about him, so I’m interested to pick his brain a lot.”

Boston Red Sox pitcher Garrett Whitlock throws against the Detroit Tigers in the sixth inning during a baseball game, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

To prepare for the WBC, Whitlock began his spring training program two weeks earlier than usual. Tuesday was his fifth time facing live hitters.

He’s pleased with his progression. After a tremendous 2025 season back in the Boston bullpen full-time, Whitlock didn’t want to change his offseason work too much. The one significant exception is born out of his last outing.

“It honestly sucked,” Whitlock said of the team’s defeat by the Yankees in the three-game wild-card series. “With what happened with me especially, I heard it from the fans all offseason. Like, ‘Oh you were so good, but it didn’t even matter. You weren’t good when it counted.’ I basically let that feed me all offseason.”

Whitlock pitched 1 2/3 innings in Game 2, and blames himself for the 4-3 loss that evened the series. He worked around a one-out double and struck out two of four batters in the seventh, but after recording two quick outs in the eighth, the Yankees got to him; a walk, go-ahead RBI single, followed by another single and walk brought Cora out to the mound for a pitching change.

“I made it a goal of mine,” Whitlock said. “I did a ton of, basically, conditioning and everything like that to make sure that I’m never in a situation where I get tired again.”

Whitlock pitched in 62 games and struck out 91 batters, both new career-bests, in the regular season. There were 18 multi-inning appearances, including 11 two-inning outings, among his 72 total frames.

Yet only twice, on April 6 and June 23, did Whitlock exceed 37 pitches in a game. His season-high 43 pitches came in the former, at a time of year when players are fresh, not yet bogged down by the inevitable exhaustion that builds over a 162-game season. He averaged 19 pitches per game.

It’s fair to say efficiency throughout the regular season made the righty a victim of his own success, but he won’t give himself the out. No contributing factors or defenses, no matter how legitimate, are excusable in his eyes.

“I know, but that’s my fault,” Whitlock said. “(Last year) it was like, ‘Oh, I’m being efficient, so I’m good.’ This year it’s, ‘Hey, even when I am efficient, I’m still going to make sure I’m conditioning after the game. Even though I was efficient today, I’m preparing to be ready for the day I’m not.’ Because that’s what happened. I just wasn’t efficient that day. My pitch count got way up, and I ran out of gas.”

“It’s being prepared for when I suck and I need to make sure I still got it,” he added with a chuckle. “I’m not going to let it happen where I’m tired again. I’m not going to run out of gas, because that was embarrassing. I don’t want to have that happen again.”