Red Sox reliever Liam Hendriks makes first rehab appearance for the WooSox
Red Sox reliever Liam Hendriks is one step away from returning to the big leagues.
The 35-year-old began a 30-day rehab outing with the WooSox on Sunday. Hendriks pitched a perfect fifth inning against Lehigh Valley, tossing 12 pitches (10 strikes).
“It was nice to get back out there. It’s obviously been a little bit for me, but it was good,” Hendriks said to reporters at Polar Park. “I was able to get three quick outs and keep under the pitch count, which is good, which is what I was hoping for.”
Hendriks opened his outing facing the IronPigs’ Kody Clemens, who flew out to Dalton Guthrie in center field, following a full count. Scott Kingery and Darick Hall were promptly retired by groundouts.
The former All-Star closer relied heavily on his fastball, throwing seven, topping out at 95.6 mph and averaging 94.8 mph. He threw his cutter three times, averaging 86.4 mph and one curveball (82.2 mph) and slider (85.6 mph), according to Baseball Savant.
Hendriks threw three live batting practices the last two weeks. He continues to build his strength on the mound and will have time with Worcester to work on his pitches as he inches closer back to the Majors.
“There’s a couple little things [I’m still working on], but today I felt a lot closer than I did during my live [batting practices], which was nice, and then hopefully it continues to progress,” Hendriks said. “The adjustment period was a lot shorter than it had been during the lives. I was more pleased with the fastball; it had some life to it.”
WooSox pitching coach Dan DeLucia noted pregame that Hendriks' outing would be short and really more to get his feet wet. As he moves forward in his rehab outings, they’ll work on continued development.
“Just one inning, a limited amount of pitches. So really, what he’s comfortable with, what he thinks he can get an attack in the zone early with, and we’re going to start there,” DeLucia said. “Not really going to toy with anything too crazy from a development standpoint. Just want to let him settle in and see if we can take steps to get him back to where he was prior to his injury.”
