BOSTON — Red Sox reliever Liam Hendriks feels strong two days after throwing his first bullpen session since undergoing Tommy John surgery last August.
He threw a 15-pitch bullpen (all fastballs) Wednesday.
“He feels good. Feels like that wasn’t enough,” manager Alex Cora said before Boston’s game against the Padres on Friday here at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox signed the 35-year-old Feb. 20 for two years and $10 million in guaranteed money with an additional $10 million available in performance bonuses.
Hendriks said Wednesday that he still hopes to return sometime in August.
“That’s definitely doable for me,” Hendriks said. “Whether it is for them, I have no idea. I try to only know what I’m doing this week and next week I have no idea so that if I do have a setback, I’m not mentally messed up … As far as I know, we’re on track for August and that’s the goal.
“I don’t know whether the trainers love me or want to kill me,” he added. “Every day is a struggle telling them to let me do more and them trying to hold me back into a normal stratosphere, which sucks. We’ve been on a good plan. Hopefully, I can do a couple more bullpens so I can stop doing certain exercises I hate doing. Then, we can go from there.”
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Hendriks has 116 career saves, including a league-leading 38 in 2021. He also had 37 saves in 2022 before missing most of 2023 while being treated for Stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He returned to appear in five games for the White Sox last year before undergoing Tommy John surgery Aug. 2.
From 2019-22, Hendriks won two AL Rivera Reliever awards and earned three All-Star selections. He also received AL Cy Young votes in both 2020 and ‘21.
Casas feeling good, too
First baseman Triston Casas began taking dry swings Wednesday.
Casas is on the 60-day IL with some fractured cartilage which connects his ribcage to his sternum. He was eligible to return June 21.
“He’s feeling good,” Cora said Friday. “Today he was tracking (pitches) off the Trajekt (machine). So little by little just keep building up. Obviously we’re not there yet as far as like hitting outside and all that. But at least there’s progress, which is important.”
