Red Sox notebook: After starting year in indy ball, Barraclough relishing latest opportunity

Kyle Barraclough has been pitching in the big leagues since 2015, and while he’s spent the past few years bouncing back and forth between the majors and minors he seemingly pitched well enough in his brief time with the Angels last season to warrant at least a depth role in some organization.

And yet this past offseason, his phone never rang.

Shut out of any big league opportunity, Barraclough signed with the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League, an independent club based out of North Carolina. He eventually caught the eye of the Red Sox, who signed him in June and converted him to a starting pitcher, and he did so well in his new role that it became a matter of it, not when, he’d return to the big leagues.

Wednesday that call, perhaps the most satisfying of his career, finally came.

Barraclough was promoted to the Red Sox after a dominant stretch with Triple-A Worcester. He was added to the big league roster alongside left-hander Brandon Walter, giving Boston a pair of fresh arms after Nick Robertson was optioned and Dinelson Lamet was designated for assignment following Tuesday night’s loss.

“I was telling my wife last night this is probably one of the more satisfactory call-ups in my career probably right up there with debuting,” Barraclough said. “After not finding a job and then going to independent ball and then getting signed, it’s definitely a good feeling.”

Barraclough’s journey back to the big leagues has been both improbable and unusual. Besides the fact that he was able to earn another chance following a detour to indy ball, he also successfully converted to a starter at age 33, which isn’t typically a transition pitchers make this deep into their careers.

There was no denying the results, however. In seven starts with the WooSox Barraclough was 7-0 and posted a 2.57 ERA over 42 innings.

“It was a little bit of an adjustment just from more of a preparation standpoint, as a reliever mentally you have to be ready every day, especially up here,” Barraclough said. “Where as a starter I know I’m throwing here, I know I can tailor my routine for three or four days.”

Barraclough is expected to return to his original short-inning reliever role with Boston, and the Red Sox hope he can provide the same kind of stability to the back-end of the bullpen as he did with the WooSox rotation. Though he’s only appeared in 18 big league games since 2020, Barraclough has 3.61 career ERA in 288 MLB outings, including a 2016 season in which he posted a 2.85 ERA with 113 strikeouts over 75 games.

While he’s never been used as a bulk reliever, Barraclough could conceivably also be used in a similar manner as Nick Pivetta and Chris Murphy have at times.

Whitlock nearing return

Garrett Whitlock (right elbow bone bruise) returned to the mound on Wednesday, pitching 2.1 shutout innings in a dominant rehab outing with the WooSox. The right-hander allowed two hits with no walks and struck out three in Worcester’s eventual 5-4 win, and Red Sox bench coach Ramon Vazquez told reporters afterwards the expectation is Whitlock will be activated at some point this coming weekend.

Chris Sale (stress reaction in left shoulder blade) is also on track to return to the Red Sox rotation later this week. The club is targeting Friday as his return date, though a final determination hasn’t yet been made.

Teel dominant in debut

Kyle Teel, the Red Sox first round pick in last month’s MLB Draft, has gotten off to a flying start to his professional career.

The 21-year-old catcher went 3 for 7 with a home run, two RBI, two walks and two runs scored in three games of rookie ball, and after that was immediately promoted to High-A. Teel made a strong first impression in his Greenville Drive debut on Tuesday, going 3 for 5 while driving in the eventual winning runs with a two-run single in the club’s 14-8 win.