At the end of December, I wrote some predictions for the 2023 season and one of them was that Kyle Hendricks was only going to make 10 starts with the Chicago Cubs. I did mention that part of my reasoning was because I thought there would be a chance the team would trade him, but I was mainly pessimistic because of the shoulder injury that shut down Hendricks for the second half of last year.
Heading into spring training, we knew that Hendricks was going to be behind schedule, but the Cubs did seem confident that he would return to the team in May. Well, the veteran pitcher has been in Arizona, throwing in extended spring training games and Hendricks is very much on course to come back to the big leagues soon.
On Saturday, Hendricks pitched three innings, throwing about 45 pitches in an extended spring training game and will throw a bullpen session on Tuesday. It is possible that Hendricks begins a rehab assignment in the minor leagues this week, coming as soon as Thursday, which would be the fifth day following his start on Saturday.
I will say that my expectations for Hendricks will remain tempered when he does pitch for the Cubs again, but it is good to read that Hendricks is fully healthy again and right now he is simply building up his stamina as he keeps increasing his pitch count.
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Oh and how about this, Hendricks has been hitting 90mph on his fastball in Arizona. Yeah, that isn’t impressive for most pitchers, but Hendricks throwing 90mph is like Hunter Greene throwing 100mph.
Via The Athletic.
“We slowed him down in a way to work on his velocity,” Hoyer said. “There was a series of conversations in spring about how his velo had been kind of creeping down over the last couple years. We want to push his velocity up as much as possible. When he was winning ERA titles and those things, he was touching 90. That had come down a little bit. He’s not Mason Miller throwing 102 miles an hour. But when he throws 88 to 90, his changeup is that much more effective. He put in a lot of time and focused on that. I think the hard work is paying off.”
Prior to getting shut down in 2022, Hendricks made 16 starts with the Cubs and he was hit hard, recording a 4.80 ERA in 84.1 innings. What made things more concerning was the fact that Hendricks was already coming off the worst season of his career, as the righty posted a 4.77 ERA in 2022, when he allowed 31 home runs in 181 innings. Before that, the most home runs he’d given up in a season was 22, coming in 199 innings during the 2018 season.
Last week, the Cubs placed Jameson Taillon on the 15-day injured list with a groin strain. It sounds like Taillon may only miss the minimum amount of time on the IL, which means he could be back as soon as the end of next week. If the team believes Hendricks is ready to pitch in the majors in early May, then they could go one of two ways; either go with a six-man rotation for a bit or send down rookie starter Hayden Wesneski, who has not looked comfortable throughout his first four starts to begin this season.
It’s a good problem to have with Hendricks nearing a return, but a problem nonetheless that the Cubs will have to figure out. If Hendricks can get back to a solid version of his old self, then the rotation will be even stronger moving forward in 2023.
Even after a couple duds against the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend, the Cubs currently have the best rotation ERA in the National League entering Monday.
