Craig Breslow expects Liam Hendriks to have ‘normal’ spring training when players report
The Red Sox expect reliever Liam Hendriks to show up to spring training healthy and with no restrictions next season. With the club having no clear closer on the roster at the moment, Hendriks isn’t necessarily going to be the team’s closer for next season.
“We look at Liam as a guy who has been a very, very successful closer in this league for a really long time,” Craig Breslow said earlier this month to Red Sox beat writers. “I don’t know that it would be fair in December to say that a guy who hasn’t thrown a big league pitch in over a year should be our closer today.
“We feel very comfortable and confident that if he is our closer, he’s going to do a great job.”
The Sox’ front office boss considers Hendriks as a full-go participant once the players arrive to camp next month. The righty missed all of last season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. Hendriks did pitch in the minors on a rehab assignment pitching for both the Sea Dogs and WooSox but was shutdown after with a sore arm.
“I think if we were in the postseason last year, he would have been pushing really hard to pitch in games,” Breslow said. “But obviously given that we weren’t, it just made the most sense for him to go into the offseason feeling healthy and confident, but not pushing it. He’s been throwing bullpens. He feels really good. So we expect him to have a normal spring training.”
Hendriks was the A’s closer from 2019-2020, where he posted a sub-2.00 ERA and a sub-1.00 WHIP, converting 29 saves over a two-year span. He would join the White Sox ahead of the 2021 season, where he posted back-to-back seasons with a sub-3.00 ERA and 30-plus saves in both 2021 and 2022. When healthy, Hendriks is an effective strikeout reliever, ranking in the 97th percentile in strikeout rate in his last four seasons, according to Baseball Savant.
The Red Sox have other in-house candidates who could be the ninth inning option, including Justin Slaten and Aroldis Chapman.
