Opposing hitters went 23-for-220 (.105 batting average) against Liam Hendriks’ slider from 2019-23.
During that stretch, the 35-year-old righty won two AL Rivera Reliever awards and earned three All-Star selections. He received AL Cy Young votes in both 2020 and ‘21.
“It’s progressed to where I have a few different variations now depending on how I’m feeling,” Hendriks said about his slider earlier this season. “There’s one where I’m feeling (expletive) and I’ll add more fingers on the seam. There’s one where I’m feeling good and I’ll use less fingers.”
Hendriks — who the Red Sox signed Feb. 20 for two years and $10 million in guaranteed money with an additional $10 million available in performance bonuses — very likely will be Boston’s next closer.
Hendriks missed most of 2023 battling Stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He returned to appear in five games for the White Sox before undergoing Tommy John surgery last Aug. 2. He has spent this season rehabbing.
The righty said back in spring training that he hopes to return around the 2024 trade deadline. He continues to keep early August as a target date. In the minds of the Red Sox, they’d be happy if Hendriks contributes at all this season; they signed him with the 2025 season in mind.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported May 26 that the Red Sox “plan to trade” Kenley Jansen by the deadline and “have no interest in bringing him back” in 2025.
That opens the door for Hendriks, a native of Australia, a fascinating man who keeps it loose in the clubhouse with his humor. He grew up playing baseball and Aussie rules football and he joked he has a “(expletive)-ton” of dogs and cats, including a dalmatian he calls her his “little pride and joy.” He likes to “hang out with the animals and read.”
But when he’s on the mound, it’s all business. He has mixed an upper-90s four-seam fastball and knuckle curveball in addition to his nasty slider to dominate the ninth inning. His fastball averaged 97.6 mph in his last full season (2022), per Baseball Savant.
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He began throwing his slider, his most dominant pitch, in his second year of pro ball.
“I just started dabbling around trying to figure out grips and stuff like that,” he said.
“I was a four-seam/changeup/curveball guy,” he added. “I needed to add a little wrinkle in there so I went two-seam slider to mix in.”
Are his peers always asking him to share his slider grip?
“Not particularly,” he said. “It’s one of those things where everybody’s different. The way my arm action works, it’s better for me to be on top of the ball where some guys need to be in a little bit different of a position. If anyone asks, I’m not hiding my grip or anything like that. It’s just everyone has their own arm path. Everyone has their own way of doing things. And my slider grip is different than a lot of other people’s.”
Hendriks’ prep work consists more of video rather than stats. He’s a self described “big video” guy.
“I don’t care as much about stats,” he said. “You can put a little bit more weight into the recent stats. So like if a guy is hitting .300 but in the last two weeks he’s hitting .150, you’ve got to take that into account, not think he’s a .300 hitter. Or vice versa and all that sort of stuff. But yeah, I like looking at video, especially the stuff I’ve done against people. Because that’s more indicative for me than what they’ve done league wide because everybody’s repertoire is different. My fastball is going to play different than say Tanner (Houck’s) fastball.”
He added his slider is going to play different than other pitchers’ sliders.
“So I look at a lot of my video and what they’ve done against me and see if they’ve had success in certain areas or anything like that,” Hendriks said. “But you never know. The first pitch is the only thing that really matters in the scouting report. Because they could go out there and be really bad on two-strike fastballs but for whatever reason that day, they’re looking to stay back and drive the ball to right field as a righty. And that game-plan is out the window. And if you can’t adapt and you can’t adjust, you’ll be dead in the water.”
There are some trips that don’t line up with Hendriks’ throwing program but he has tried to travel on the road as much as possible with the Red Sox this season.
“I prefer being around with the team, especially after missing so much last year,” Hendriks said. “I feel like I can have some sort of an impact as far as being around the guys and being around the game.
“I prefer to travel as much as I can just because I enjoy being in a clubhouse,” he added. “I enjoy being on the road. I enjoy sitting out in the bullpen and messing around and being a part of that.”
Hendriks was the recipient of the 2023 Tony Conigliaro Award and last year’s AL Comeback Player of the Year after returning from his battle with cancer.
“I enjoy the game,” he said. “I enjoy the camaraderie. I enjoy the competitiveness. It’s just one thing I grew up with. It’s my happy spot. It helped me get through everything last year.”
Manager Alex Cora said Sunday about Hendriks’ progress, “Just staying with the course of the program. No mound progression yet but from everything I hear and the way he feels, he’s moving along quick.”
