Now the 23-year-old rookie lefthander is competing for a spot in a rotation improved by the additions of veterans Sonny Gray and Ranger Suárez.

Early got started with two shutout innings against the Rays in a 2-1 loss. He faced seven batters and retired six while throwing 15 of 23 pitches for strikes.

“It’s all part of the process,” Early said. “Just keep building up.”

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Early had a 2.33 earned run average in four starts last season, striking out 29 and walking only four over 19⅓ innings. The Sox sent him into the offseason with a plan to get stronger. The 15 pounds he added should help maintain his fastball velocity deeper into games.

“If he can accomplish that, then it’s going to be fun,” manager Alex Cora said. “Very excited about him.”

At 215 pounds, Early hit 95 miles per hour a few times on Monday. His four-seam fastball averaged 94 last season. The Sox aren’t looking for eye-popping numbers, more a solid base of staying in the mid-90s throughout his starts.

“Hopefully it translates to being more durable,” Early said.

The Sox also want Early to do a better job of holding runners. This is his first spring training with the major league team and there are fundamental aspects of the game to work on.

“There’s a lot of stuff that comes into play as far as preparation and repetitions,” Cora said.

Cora said Early — or fellow rookie lefty Payton Tolle — will not be considered for a bullpen role. They would pitch in the Triple A rotation until needed.

Everybody’s All-American

For Garrett Whitlock, proud member of Team USA in the World Baseball Classic next month, seeing the US men’s hockey team win Olympic gold on Sunday got the patriotic juices flowing.

The early start time allowed him to watch the overtime win over Canada through the end before having to rev up for his work day. The game was on all of the televisions inside Fenway South, he said.

“Being in Alabama, you’re not much of a hockey guy, but I was tuned into that,” Whitlock said. “Everyone in here was pretty fired up to watch it, especially when it went into overtime and everything. It was really cool. It definitely was one of those things where it was like, ‘Wow, I’m honored that I get the chance in a couple weeks here to put “USA” on my chest.’ That fires me up.”

Whitlock and Roman Anthony will leave Sox camp to join Team USA early next week.

The clubhouse staff hung a Japanese flag in Masataka Yoshida’s locker after he left the team to join Japan for the World Baseball Classic. Infielder Tsung-Che Cheng, who will play for Taiwan, is set to leave on Thursday. Its first game is March 4 in Tokyo against Australia.

In all, the Sox will have 13 players from the 40-man roster in the tournament. The championship game is March 17. The final day of spring training is March 24.

Cora is a proponent of the WBC and believes the experience will benefit Anthony, Whitlock, and the others. The manager mentioned getting in touch with Kyle Schwarber about imparting some of his baseball wisdom on Anthony.

“Like, ‘Hey man, please talk to this guy,’ ” Cora said.

Duel of the day

On a low-volume workout day at Fenway South, a highlight: Aroldis Chapman pitched to Jarren Duran, who simply laughed when he saw a high-octane first-pitch fastball.

Duran wound up working a deep count, broke his bat on a foul chopper, fouled back another two-strike offering, and lined a single to center field.

Chapman yelled in feigned agony.

“That’s it. I’m done,” Duran said, wanting to end his day with the small win.

Duran struck out on five pitches in his next at-bat against Chapman.

Legend in residence

Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez arrived at camp and will be on hand through Friday to help work with pitchers … Beyond playing catch, Romy Gonzalez isn’t doing any baseball activities as his right shoulder gets treatment. There seems to be little chance of his being ready for the start of the season. That puts Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Andruw Monasterio, and Nick Sogard in play as potential backups at first base. Sogard played five innings at first base on Monday.

Tim Healey reported from Fort Myers, Fla.

Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social‬. Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.