On the night of Dec. 5, Red Sox righty Garrett Whitlock was at his gym’s Christmas party in Birmingham, Ala., and he was sitting around the table with a few other pitchers with whom he trains over the offseason.

With him was free agent right-hander Cooper Criswell, who was about a week away from becoming the first free agent signing of Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s tenure, and a New York Yankees farmhand named Richard Fitts. Whitlock and Fitts had trained together for years, and the three spent the night talking about how Fitts could potentially be included as part of a potential trade for San Diego superstar Juan Soto.

Suddenly, Fitts’ phone rang. It was the Yankees’ farm director, so he took the call outside. Whitlock and Criswell carried on their conversation, until Fitts began excitedly tapping the glass and pointing at Whitlock.

“I was like, oh I guess we were right, he’s going to San Diego, that’s cool, and we didn’t think anything of it,” Whitlock said. “Then he comes back in and he goes, ‘Hey, you’ve got a new teammate.’ And we’re all like, ‘wait what?’ ‘Yeah, they’re trading Verdugo and I’m coming in the deal.’ And I’m like ‘oh snap!’ We thought it was the whole San Diego thing, so that was wild.”

Fitts wound up being one of three prospects acquired in the Alex Verdugo trade, coming to Boston alongside fellow righties Greg Weissert and Nicholas Judice. Upon his arrival, Fitts immediately became one of the Red Sox top pitching prospects, and this past week he came up to Boston to take part in the club’s Rookie Development Program and attend Winter Weekend in Springfield.

“I got to share that moment with him and he was probably more excited than I was,” said Fitts, reflecting on the night of the trade. “That should just show you what kind of a guy he is, he’s awesome.”

Auburn’s Richard Fitts pitches during an NCAA college super regional game against North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., Monday, June 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown)

A native of Helena, Ala., Fitts became acquainted with Whitlock while a sophomore at Auburn University. Whitlock previously attended the nearby University of Alabama Birmingham and still trained in the area with current Houston Astros reliever Kendall Graveman, and three winters ago the two invited Fitts to train with them after learning he was home for the holiday and needed someone to throw with.

The pair hit it off and continued throwing together every offseason, and as time went on Fitts’ journey wound up paralleling Whitlock’s in interesting ways. Like Whitlock, Fitts was also drafted by the New York Yankees, and like Whitlock he became one of the few players to jump straight from New York to Boston, with Whitlock famously being poached in the Rule 5 Draft.

“It’s been really cool getting to know him just because he’s kind of walked the same path that I did,” Fitts said.

Though Fitts isn’t expected to make an immediate impact in the big leagues, he projects as one of Boston’s most interesting arms long-term. The hulking 6-foot-3 righty is the reigning Eastern League Pitcher of the Year after posting a 3.48 ERA with 163 strikeouts over 152.2 innings at Double-A Somerset, and he’s currently ranked as Boston’s No. 10 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.

Fitts described himself as a fastball pitcher who can use his slider and changeup on both sides of the plate, and Whitlock said fans should be excited whenever he takes the hill.

“Just a bulldog on the mound,” Whitlock said. “He’s a huge guy, have you seen him? He’s my height and has 20 pounds on me, so he’s a big guy, and he’s going to be someone that throws bowling balls, attacks the zone and pumps it up.”

Beyond his imposing presence on the mound, Fitts also boasts a big personality off the field. Fitts described himself as a huge Star Wars fan — “Revenge of the Sith” is his favorite movie, full stop — and likes to keep things light in the clubhouse. Whitlock described him as an upbeat, funny guy who always has a smile on his face, and the two are delighted to have a chance to call each other teammates after spending so much time working out together in the offseason.

“I feel like I’ve been welcomed with open arms and it really makes me excited just being here in Boston,” Fitts said. “Getting to be here at Fenway is a dream. You dream about playing at Fenway and just being here is really cool.”

Sox hire Driveline founder

Though this offseason has been a disappointment in terms of on-field additions, the Red Sox have made a series of massive moves behind the scenes to shore up the organization’s pitching development department.

This past week brought potentially the biggest of all.

The Red Sox have hired Kyle Boddy, the founder of Driveline Baseball, to serve as a special advisor to chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. Driveline is one of the premier data-driven player development organizations in the sport, and over the past decade it has become a valued resource to a number of prominent big leaguers.

“For two-plus years I’ve had opportunities to get back into MLB in a front office but none seemed like the right fit,” Boddy tweeted on Thursday. “This one is.”

Driveline utilizes high-speed and motion capture cameras, wearable sensors and other advanced technology to help analyze a player’s mechanics and identify ways they can improve. Its program has been credited for helping numerous pitchers increase their velocity, and more recently it has become sought by hitters looking to increase their bat speed, allowing them to keep up with all the hard throwers.

At a time where advanced player development has become an arms race within the industry, Boston’s landing one of the biggest stars in that space is a huge deal that shouldn’t go overlooked. Obviously fans shouldn’t expect everyone to start throwing 100 mph and lacing 110 mph line drives every time up overnight, but it’s reasonable to guess that with Boddy on board, he could help a lot of Red Sox players realize their full potential, and that might ultimately pay off in ways few can appreciate.

Watch out for Wilyer

Ever since he was called up late last season, Red Sox officials have raved at every turn about rookie outfielder Wilyer Abreu. Alex Cora has frequently praised the 24-year-old, and on Friday night club chairman Tom Werner gave the strongest hint yet the Red Sox have big plans for Abreu in 2024.

“I’m looking forward to Wilyer Abreu having 400 at bats,” Werner said while listing some of the club’s young players he’s most excited to see this season.

Boston Red Sox outfielder Wilyer Abreu grounds out, driving in a run during the fifth inning of a game against the Houston Astros, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023 in Houston. (AP Photo/Kevin M. Cox)

In limited big league action last season, Abreu batted .316 with an impressive .862 OPS over 28 games. He also hit 22 home runs with a .930 OPS in Triple-A, and following the season he was named as having the best strike zone judgement and outfield arm in the International League by the Triple-A league’s managers.

Barring any more outside additions, Abreu projects as Boston’s starting right fielder, and by the sound of it Red Sox ownership believes he’s more than capable of getting the job done.

Story, Casas step up

Red Sox fans are understandably upset about the current state of the team, but they should be encouraged by what we’ve seen from Trevor Story and Triston Casas over the past few weeks.

Story, following in the footsteps of former Rockies teammate Troy Tulowitzki, hosted an infielder’s boot camp near his home in Dallas and invited a number of the club’s young players to participate, including new second baseman Vaughn Grissom, and prospects David Hamilton and Nick Yorke.

Triston Casas, who only just turned 24 on Monday, also took part in Story’s camp and then flew to Boston this past week on his own initiative to help out with the Red Sox Rookie Development Program.

“There’s a lot of players in this locker room that I’m not familiar with, hadn’t even got a chance to meet before today,” Casas told the Herald on Wednesday. “I wanted to be able to connect with them on a little more personal level, and I felt like this opportunity was more constructive for that, was more conducive for a little more one-on-one time.”

Even with spring training nearly a month away, Story and Casas have gone out of their way to not only get to know their younger teammates better, but help them improve so when camp opens they’ll already have a head start preparing for the new season.

Obviously both will have to perform once the season begins, but they’ve gone above and beyond as leaders this winter, which should hopefully pay dividends on and off the field.

Last call for Cooperstown

The Baseball Hall of Fame’s newest class will be unveiled on Tuesday, and it’s looking like this could potentially be the most robust since four new members were elected in 2019.

As of this writing, Adrian Beltre is looking like a sure first-ballot inductee with almost 99% of the known vote and nearly half of the total expected vote made public. Joe Mauer is trending in the right direction at roughly 84%, and Todd Helton (83.5%) and Billy Wagner (79.7%) have a good chance of clearing the 75% bar needed for enshrinement as well.

Though Gary Sheffield, who is tracking right around the 75% mark, is likely to fall just short in his final year on the ballot, this year has also been encouraging for a number of other candidates who look likely to earn induction at some point in the future.

Andruw Jones continues to gain ground and is trending towards finishing in the mid-to-high 60s, Carlos Beltran is enjoying a big jump in his second year and could top 60% as well, and Chase Utley is tracking towards an impressive low 40s finish in his first year on the ballot. All three should see their candidacies get more attention next year, plus with Ichiro Suzuki, C.C. Sabathia, Dustin Pedroia and others set to join the ballot, the Hall of Fame discourse should remain as vibrant as ever.