Article: Liam Hendriks Begins Rehab Assignment With Worcester Red Sox

[Nick John]

"The ball's coming out nice," said Hendriks, who struck out three of the four batters he faced in his first game action.

Thursday night saw Liam Hendriks return for the Worcester Red Sox as they faced off against the Columbus Clippers. Hendriks started the game and looked comfortable in his first appearance since the end of spring training. On the injured list with elbow inflammation during his ramp-up from Tommy John surgery, Hendriks received a cortisone shot on Opening Day. Hendriks pitched a single inning, striking out three batters, including the first batter he faced, and allowed one weak infield single. Hendriks last pitched on March 20, and he threw 18 pitches in the first inning, relying mainly on his fastball and slider. He also tossed two curveballs during the game.

Hendriks led with the slider, tossing it nine times. The pitch averaged 86.7 mph on the might, 1.3 mph below its average in 2023, the last time Hendriks pitched in the majors. The pitch worked well, earning five swings and misses. Hendriks threw his fastball even times, generating five swings but no whiffs. The pitch topped out at 95.2 mph and averaged 94.3 mph,  a drop-off of 1.1 mph from his 2023 average. The lone hit of the inning came off the fastball, a slow roller to third with an exit velocity of 63.4 mph. Nate Eaton attempted to make a do-or-die play on it, but the runner was able to beat it out for an infield single.

Hendriks located 14 of his 18 pitches outside the zone, focusing on earning chases with sliders low and away to right-handed hitters and in to left-handed hitters. Of his seven fastballs, four were located within the zone; the plan of attack was to focus on the upper third of the zone. In all, he earned chases on eight of his 14 pitches outside the zone, and five whiffs and five fouls on the 11 swings he induced.

"I think I had more strikeouts today than I did all of spring training, which is nice,” Hendriks said after the game. “Good thing was it felt good, but more importantly, location-wise, it was a little better. It was a little easier to get to all of those pitches than it was in the spring.” Assuming he feels good over the next few days, Hendriks plans on pitching against the Clippers again on Sunday. “Ever since I got the shot on Opening Day, it’s been cruising pretty well,” he said. “I was able to do a couple of things differently over this last week that I wasn’t able to do all spring training. It was just my stubborn [expletive] just not willing to admit that I wasn’t quite 100% and trying to push through it that way. But ever since I got that shot in there, everything’s calmed down in there and the ball’s coming out nice.”

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[moonslav59]

1IP

1H

0ER

0BB

3Ks

Nice start.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

49 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

1IP

1H

0ER

0BB

3Ks

Nice start.

For openers (we're so punny).

Where some may see a SSS...

... I make an ASSUMPTION (actual sample: sizing up most posts that intuitively omit nothing).