Kyle Hendricks does not hesitate when assessing his last 2½ months.
The Chicago Cubs veteran right-hander has pitched in 271 big-league games, including the postseason. He understands that what the team has needed from him this season hasn’t often matched the numbers he’s posted on the mound, most notably an 8.20 ERA in 12 games.
“Definitely the most adversity,” Hendricks told the Tribune. “For sure, performance on the field, it’s definitely been the toughest of my career.”
Hendricks, 34, spent three weeks in the bullpen in a multi-inning role that predominately saw him called on when the Cubs were losing late to finish out the game. Left-hander Jordan Wicks’ oblique strain that caused him to exit his start Saturday and force him to the 15-day injured list created an opening for Hendricks in the rotation.
After tossing 4 1/3 shutout innings against the St. Louis Cardinals with just two hits and no walks allowed in relief of Wicks, Hendricks will get the ball in Wednesday’s series finale versus the San Francisco Giants for his first start since May 17. He enters the game coming off three consecutive scoreless outings spanning 8 2/3 innings.
Hendricks’ three weeks in the bullpen provided a different perspective on the game, from both the vantage point of where he was watching and the experience of physically and mentally being ready for something different. Prior to the role change, he had pitched in relief just twice — and not in the regular season since 2016.
“It’s been honestly a fun challenge for me in that way, you’re never in the same spot, it’s never the same so you’re always seeing the situation as a new situation,” Hendricks said. “How am I going to attack this and make it the best I can for me? Just assessing the situation for what it is, trying to go about my process, stay true to who I am and just work hard, obviously. And you’ve got to do the right things out there to get the results at the end of the day.”
Hendricks, 34, is only days away from reaching 10 years of big-league service time on Tuesday. Some Cubs teammates have been asking him when that date was, and Hendricks has been telling them it’s sometime next year, though he added wryly with a smile: “They’ve been making me think about it, unfortunately.”
“But when you’re in the middle of the season, especially what I’ve been going through, locking in on the work and really try to be the pitcher I’m supposed to be and contribute to this team and winning ways, it kind of snuck up on me a little bit,” Hendricks said. “I’ve got so many great teammates, they’ve been bringing it up to me and it’s awesome, I really appreciate that.”
Even for all of his individual and team accolades since he debuted for the Cubs in 2014, Hendricks said hitting this milestone means a ton to him. He made sure to note how his family has helped him get to this point and the responsibility they have taken on, as well as the coaches and teammates he’s played with over the years who have invested time and effort into his career.
“You would never make it this far without all that support,” Hendricks said. “So, yeah, when something like that comes around, you hear everyone talks about 10 years, everyone making it there, and you really get to sit back and look at everybody else that was involved in that that helps you get to that point. And it just means so much to you. I mean, it’s beyond my wildest dreams.”
Those three weeks of pitching in relief allowed for more introspection on his pronounced, extended struggles to begin the season, in which he owned a 10.57 ERA in seven starts. As Hendricks put it, the good starts are never as good and the bad ones are never as bad. Reflecting and breaking down those outings, however, required honest self-assessment.
“I was making some good pitches that were getting hit still, but at the end of the day, even if you are giving up bleeders, balls that find the holes, there’s reasons for that too?” Hendricks said. “So either I wasn’t getting good enough angle, I wasn’t quite down in the zone like I thought I was. I mean, it wasn’t really surprising.
“But just getting back to the honest self-evaluation and really seeing it for what it is, it’s so hard to do in this game. No matter how long you’ve done it or how many times you look at a certain situation, you can see something different every time you watch it.”
As Hendricks has battled to get on track in the worst season of his career, he’s also been experiencing his greatest joy off the field as a new dad following the birth of his son Luca in November with his wife Emma. It’s changed his entire perspective in life.
“Knowing that you have someone like that looking up to you and you just want to be a good example and be a good person and you want to see them have happiness and joy and smile, that’s it at the end of the day,” Hendricks said.
The dichotomy he’s experienced can be the reality for any big-leaguer who isn’t playing to the level they or the team might expect. Hendricks’ past successes don’t make him immune to those standards for his performance, especially on a team trying to get back to the postseason after falling a game short last year. And while Hendricks tries to stay away from social media, he’s also aware and understands his performance hasn’t yielded positive fan reactions the last few months.
“I think at the end of the day, honestly, for a right-hander going out there throwing 86 mph, you’re gonna see it all the time,” Hendricks said, chuckling. “So if you want to find something negative and go search, you can find it, that’s just been part of the game, that’s part of social media and the age we live in today.”
For Hendricks, it all comes back to the mental side of the game and how he’s honed that in the years since the Texas Rangers selected him as an eighth-round pick in 2011 out of Dartmouth. Knowing his teammates and those around him provide support and the perspective needed to get through not only the grind of a long season but the inherent ups and downs helps too.
Through it all, Hendricks appreciates Cubs fans’ love.
“They’ve been so supportive of me,” Hendricks said. “I can’t thank them enough and that’s really the part that I see and surprises me more, to be honest.
“Of course, you’re going to see the terrible. I would’ve said terrible things — I was saying terrible things about myself. You’ve got to say it for how it is, so I was honestly a little bit more surprised by the positive and just how nice Cubs fans really are.”
