Three takeaways from Liam Hendriks’ giant night on the South Facet for the Chicago White Sox.
1. The White Sox provided Hendriks with a closer-like entrance inside the eighth inning of his emotional return to the mound Monday night at Sox Park.
The strobe lights have been in full influence. The video boards have been all-Liam. The walk-in music, an EDM mannequin of Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” was turned as a lot as 11.
Just one issue was missing. The Sox trailed the Los Angeles Angels 4-3, so it wasn’t a save situation.
Supervisor Pedro Grifol said sooner than the game Hendriks wouldn’t be used as a greater to get his toes moist in his first recreation once more. Hendriks did merely that, exhibiting glimpses of himself whereas moreover allowing a pair of runs and making the Sox comeback strive more durable in a 6-4 loss.
Now that his toes have formally been drenched, will Hendriks switch once more into the place he’s most comfortable in — and the one the Sox should fill within the occasion that they intend on really contending instead pretending?
Predictably, Grifol gave his stock reply after Monday’s outing.
“We’ll course of this as we go,” he said. “Too early for that reply. We’ll course of it as we go and see how he feels (Tuesday).”
The Sox have repeatedly reminded the media they’re in “uncharted waters” with Hendriks’ rehab, as they is likely to be with any pitcher returning solely weeks after ending chemotherapy. In the event that they take it sluggish with Hendriks and steer clear of putting him in high-leverage situations for a while, no person can blame them for being overly cautious. That is, in any case, his spring teaching.
Hendriks, perhaps surprisingly, said he wanted to earn the prospect to get his outdated job once more, nevertheless plans on getting it shortly.
“I’ll by no means be OK with mediocrity,” he said. “I’ll on no account be OK with not being on the once more end of the bullpen. However in saying that, I’ve to earn it. I don’t want handouts. I’ve to work. I’ve to earn it. The blokes have been throwing properly available on the market. However on the end of the day, that’s mine.
“There’s no freebies, there’s no handouts. I’ll get there and I’ll earn it myself.”
That’s an excellent angle to take.
However Hendriks already has earned the closing job, and no person else inside the bullpen did it with any consistency all through his two-month absence. If he’s throwing 96 mph in his first recreation once more, he’s already close to being himself.
Hendriks, like most closers, desires the adrenaline rush of pitching with the game on the highway with a view to be at his best.
The Sox can’t change on the strobe gentle present repeatedly for Hendriks if he’s coming into video video games inside the seventh or eighth innings with the workforce trailing. It was a suitable tribute for his comeback recreation, nevertheless might be overkill going forward if Hendriks isn’t the nearer.
Hendriks is unfailingly reliable, and admitted Monday he “overcooked” his sliders and “didn’t have the killer intuition”
“Normally once I get two strikes, it’s just about a foregone conclusion that I’m punching them out, in my eyes at the least,” he said. “I didn’t fairly have that in the present day. It’ll come.”
Placing Hendriks once more inside the ninth inning should convey once more that killer instinct.
The Sox are additionally 22-34 and have the third-worst doc in baseball. What have they acquired to lose?
2. A digital digicam crew documenting Hendriks’ comeback was in full stress upon his return to movement, following him every step of the easiest way.
One issue that could be powerful to chronicle is the outpouring of help he’s obtained from followers, baseball colleagues and your complete metropolis of Chicago.
Hendriks moreover has been among the accessible avid gamers inside the Sox clubhouse the ultimate two years, whether or not or not it’s talking about baseball points, abortion rights, gun authorized tips or completely different subjects he’s passionate about.
The native media has given Hendriks his home all through his journey once more, allowing him to take care of his job with out the every day distraction of discussing it.
His partner Kristi said he misses dealing with the media and finally will most likely be once more to his outdated strategies, sitting at his locker and ready to discuss one thing.
“Liam loves to speak to you guys,” Kristi said sooner than Monday’s recreation. “He can be Chatty Cathy all the time. He really actually enjoys this (media consideration). I believe that is the place he thrives, telling his story. When the sport begins, he has white line fever. He’s a very completely different particular person on the sphere than he’s in day-to-day communication.”
Kristi added they might not have completed their journey with out the help of the Sox group.
“They’ve been so extremely supportive, not simply to my husband, however to me,” she said. “We’re so grateful.”
3. Hendriks little doubt has a post-playing career as a TV analyst if he needs.
However he really should think about teaming up with Kristi for a podcast or radio current. She looked like a pure in her interviews and is worried in various charity endeavors with Liam, so she is comfortable speaking in public.
And any time your partner can publicly identify you “goofy” and “bizarre” sooner than your giant comeback from most cancers, you perceive it’s a reasonably sturdy marriage.
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Originally posted 2023-05-30 16:58:23.