Australian pitcher Liam Hendriks was kitted out and throwing balls while the ink was still drying on his new $A15 million contract with one of the biggest sports clubs in the world, the Boston Red Sox, even though he might not play until June.
Still recovering from elbow surgery having already made a comeback last year from stage four non- Hodgkin lymphoma, Hendriks said the famous outfit was one of the few he watched regularly growing up in Perth.
Now he’s every off his chance to pitch for the storeyed Major League Baseball outfit with the 35-year-old conceding he was “pitching through some stuff” last season before having ligament reconstruction surgery in August.
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That means a long recovery but Hendriks insisted he would be back on the mound before the June 30 trade deadline, having signed a two-year contract with a mutual option for 2026.
“That’s my goal. That’s 12 months-ish,” he said.
“Throwing has been going well. These guys got a chance to see me throw for the first time today. They seemed pleased with what I was doing.
“It seems pretty normal to me and now it’s just a matter of me trying to poke and prod them to let me go as fast as I can and them trying to rein me back in a safe and sane way to do things.”
Hendriks, the reigning American League comeback player of the year, and a three-time All-Star – with Oakland in 2019 and the Chicago White Sox in 2021 and 2022 – has already brought his signature enthusiasm to the Red Sox clubhouse including “a lot of annoying sayings.”
But he also brings his undoubted pitching talent and is hopeful of meeting his target and getting to pitch for the club in a game sooner rather than later.
“Everything is going well, (Red Sox medical staff) seemed pleased with the way it’s going,” he said.
“They saw me throw for the first time today.
“I’ve been pitching through some stuff, but that’s what it is, that’s what you do. You’re paid to pitch, you’re paid to go out there and do a job, and that’s what I did.
“And now it’s a matter of trying to get back, rehabbing and getting back as soon as I can to put my best foot forward and do whatever I can for these 2024 Red Sox.”
