BOSTON — Liam Hendriks took off his pants when he spoke. He was wearing underwear, but his uniform hung down to his knees. He just threw his first bullpen of the year last Wednesday, which is a major step forward for any pitcher returning from Tommy John surgery. Yet he stood in the Boston Red Sox clubhouse and refused to take the incident as serious or even as something noteworthy.
How does his arm feel?
“Enclosed,” he said.
Is there extra adrenaline on the mound?
“Not really,” he replied.
What stood out about the recovery process?
“This is so boring,” Hendrix deadpanned.
None of this comes across as dismissive. For Hendricks, his teammates and even the assembled reporters, the game was about having a laugh and breaking away from the monotony. He addressed everyone in front of television cameras and microphones, all because of a 15-pitch bullpen three hours before the game. Hendrix deserves credit for not rolling his eyes. He didn’t come from Down Under, through years of baseball obscurity and rounds of cancer treatments, to celebrate some pregame fastballs in the bullpen.
“I don’t know if the trainers love me or want to kill me,” Hendricks said. “Every day is a struggle, telling them to let me do more and having them try to get me back into the normal stratosphere.
“This is bad.”
He longs for bigger moments and believes they are coming.
Liam Hendriks has faced huge physical and mental challenges over the past 20 months, but he’s still managed to maintain a sense of humor. (Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Every baseball story has numbers to tell, and Hendricks’ career is told through his three All-Star Games, two Relief Pitcher of the Year awards and 116 career saves. His backstory is documented across 14 teams and six major league organizations, seeing him come and go before trusting him in the ninth inning. The only Australian Sacred Heart graduate to play in the majors, he was designated for assignment four times and traded three more times before most people had heard of him. Yet here he is, a survivor in many ways.
Hendricks has spent the past 20 months undergoing four rounds of chemotherapy, six rehab games in the minor leagues in a few weeks, and an emotional return to the majors last May. He played four solid games in June before Tommy John surgery ended his season in August and then hit free agency.
“Theoretically, I have a new elbow,” Hendricks said this spring. “So, I have another 10 years.”
Now 35, Hendricks is determined to prove himself again. He signed a two-year contract with the Red Sox in part because they promised him two things: They believed he could pitch this season and they wanted him to spend most of his recovery with the major league team process. That’s what Hendrix has been doing. On the road, at home, throughout spring training. He’s not rehabbing in some distant luxury facility; he’s been out on the field pitching, sitting at his corner locker and joking on the bench in the bullpen. Cancer treatments kept him away from people for too long last year. But he’s not obsessed. He didn’t question it.
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Lucas Giolito and Liam Hendriks in the Red Sox coach’s room
“I’ve never been a ‘why me’ person,” Hendrix said. “I think it was inevitable that my elbow would take some damage. Unfortunately, in the same year, I dealt with a lot of other things, but that’s what it is. There’s nothing I can do to change it. All I can do is be positive every day. Attitude is out in the park, hoping to rub off on some of the young people here.
When Hendricks reported to Red Sox training camp, he was targeting 64 mph, as a pitcher who typically throws a 95 mph fastball should be seven months after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Throws around 64 mph. Still, early in his spring training — “My surgeon probably wouldn’t be happy about this,” Hendricks said — he was throwing in the mid-70s.
“Inconsistent!” Hendricks clarified. “Constantly in the low 70s. But my jumps are still a little too high compared to before. … There were a few times I was a little too strong in the paint. But I’d rather go too far than do too little. not enough.
This is what happened to Liam Hendricks. The numbers don’t reflect his performance on the mound and off the field. He’s a bulging, foul-mouthed, trash-talking wild man, but he’s also a Lego-building, loving, fun-loving teddy bear.
Under these extreme circumstances, a cancer diagnosis in December 2022 was shocking. Stage IV non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Doctors told Hendrix to expect six rounds of chemotherapy. He was proud that he only needed four. He couldn’t remember the exact date of the last round, only that it was the Chicago White Sox’s home opener and he should have been in their bullpen, not in some hospital. He had a bone marrow biopsy in late April and began rehab the first week of May.
His elbow lasted for more than a month after that.
In fact, Hendricks knew he was in trouble long before his elbow blew out. He first learned he had a small tear at UCL in 2008. – He could see this wasn’t right.
“He didn’t care,” said former White Sox and current Red Sox teammate Lucas Giolito. “A lot of people would say, ‘Oh, this hurts,’ in the training room or whatever. He said, ‘I’m going to keep going until it breaks.’
After going through so much to get back on the mound and a club option looming, was there any thought of protecting it?
“No. F–no,” Hendrix said. “I do not like it.”
Hendricks said he came to believe he was most vulnerable to injury when he was holding back.
“Anyway, the elbow is gone,” he said. “So, I’m not going to sit there and try to rehab for another six weeks and not come back. If it goes, it goes. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I’m pretty sure it’s done, but I’m holding out hope that this might be A little bit of scar tissue, if it breaks off at the right time, I’ll be fine.
This offseason, the White Sox declined a $15 million club option and Hendricks became a free agent. It’s not uncommon for pitchers recovering from Tommy John surgery to sign two-year deals with an eye on truly contributing in year two. However, when Hendricks spoke with interested teams this winter, he clarified that this was not a negotiation for 2025.
“We made it very clear that if you come in with that attitude, it’s not OK,” Hendricks said. “Some teams reach out and then just disappear.”
Hendricks is expected to pitch for the Red Sox this August. He signed a two-year deal that guarantees him $10 million but includes a mutual option for $12 million in 2026. ball game, Hendricks said he was less worried about his elbow and more worried about it. But Hendrix hit his partner in the chest, and the immediate feedback was that Hendrix wasn’t “muscular,” meaning he stayed relaxed and didn’t tense up. The movements are as natural as ever.
When Hendrix talks about limits, he only talks about breaking them. From Australia to the All-Star Game. From waivers to signing long-term contracts. Going from stage 4 cancer to recovery faster than expected. From Tommy John surgery to his fastball being too strong in spring training. Now comes a 15-pitch bullpen and a tongue-in-cheek mini-press conference.
Does the light at the end of the Tommy John tunnel look different than the light at the end of the cancer tunnel?
“Well, in my opinion, it’s the same,” Hendricks said in spring training. “The ultimate goal is still there. I still have a goal to come back. It’s just a slow process of development.
Hendricks isn’t one to sit back and wait, and he’s had to do just that for much of the past year and a half. He was scheduled to throw the ninth pitch. When this finally happens, contact him again.
“It’s not that (recovery) is long. I can take it for a long time,” Hendricks said. “I can’t take my time. What really annoys me is the slow pace.
(Top photo of Hendrix in May 2024: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
