Red Sox Pitcher Makes Emphatic Declaration For 2025 Season

Lucas Giolito has seen your 2025 Red Sox roster projections for Opening Day, and he thinks many of them need immediate revisions.

Giolito is champing to get back in the fold after missing the 2024 season due to Tommy John surgery. And while a lot has changed since he signed a two-year deal with Boston last winter, he insists he’ll be ready to go when spring training begins with all eyes on making his debut with the club when the 2025 campaign opens.

“At this point, I’m kinda coming out of the rehab progression, throwing off the mound soon. … I’m going to be ready for a full spring training and full season,” Giolito declared on Audacy’s “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast with Rob Bradford.

Because of the nature of his injury paired with a Red Sox offseason that saw the club add Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler to the starting rotation, many assumed Giolito would need some extra time or Boston would take it slow with the veteran coming off his surgery. It sounds like Giolito isn’t expecting anything like that.

“I find it funny when I see stuff online that I’ll be coming back in June. I don’t know where that came from,” Giolito quipped. “I have no idea. I asked a lot of people. No one really knows. So at this point, it’s kind of cool, that’s fine, whatever people want to think. Everything’s going great. I look forward to a full year.”

The aforementioned rotation reinforcements are likely added motivation for Giolito. He has been a rotation mainstay in all of his stops, dating back to his first full season in Chicago. Taking out the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Giolito logged at least 29 starts in each of his five seasons.

When he has been healthy, he is used to taking the ball every five days. But he acknowledged nothing is given with the talent Boston has added to a rotation that already included ascending youngsters like Tanner Houck and Brayan Bello.

“If I’m in a position where I need to compete for a rotation spot, I’m ready to do that,” Giolito said. “That’s not something I’ve had to do for a few years. I’ve been very lucky. But considering the talent we have in our rotation, if I’m competing for the fifth, sixth spot, however they want to do it, great, but I’ll be ready for that.”

If Giolito truly is ready to go and hits the ground running, it will be a major boost to the Boston rotation. As it stands right now, he’d likely have the inside track to the No. 5 spot in the rotation, which would be among a handful of ways the rotation would be improved.