The Boston Red Sox announced a slew of roster transactions before opening up their season against the Texas Rangers on Thursday, which included the placement of relief pitcher Liam Hendriks on the 15-day injured list.
Hendriks had missed the entire 2024 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, but the right-hander was slated to compete for the closer’s role at spring training. The 36-year-old took the mound seven times, logged 6 1/3 innings of work and finished with a 9.95 ERA before the team embarked for Opening Day.
Yet, as anticipation loomed in Texas, Hendriks wasn’t ready. The Red Sox didn’t provide an in-depth update on Hendriks, however, the three-time All-Star offered some clarity himself following Boston’s 5-2 win at Globe Life Field.
“It shouldn’t be a long layoff at all,” Hendriks said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage.
Boston’s expectation for Hendriks was to compete with left-hander Aroldis Chapman before an official closer was named. That didn’t work out, even though Hendriks was adamant about giving Chapman a run for his money and campaigned for a chance. The Red Sox emphasized improving their bullpen depth, and with the returns of Hendriks and Garrett Whitlock — previously a starter for the past three seasons — from the injured list, coupled with the additions of Chapman and Justin Wilson, the team did just that.
Story continues below advertisement
The challenge moving forward? Health. Hendriks is a critical part of what could make the Red Sox among the league’s most dangerous relief pitching units. When healthy, Hendriks can be elite, and while the spring training numbers don’t fall under that category, the 14-year veteran’s sample size wasn’t enough.
It’s fair to expect Hendriks to be rusty in some areas since it’s been two years since he last took the mound for a big league game.
But now back on the injured list, Hendriks is confident it won’t be too long until he officially makes his Red Sox debut. Hendriks met with doctors before Opening Day and expects to get back to throwing once the team begins its three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday.
“Graph looks fine; everything on this side of the elbow is great — on the inside where the surgery was,” Hendriks added. “It was just a little bit on the outside, which apparently is somewhat common in guys that’ve gone through it, especially guys who throw sliders and curveballs and I have a lot of pronation, so everything’s toward that way. It can kind of flare up on the outside. … It’s nothing permanent, nothing structurally wrong or anything like that. It’s just a little bit of soreness in there that was bugging me, especially on the extension.”
Story continues below advertisement
That’s good news for the Red Sox, although the team didn’t need much from the bullpen on Thursday night. Whitlock, Chapman and Justin Slaten combined to toss four scoreless innings of relief after Garrett Crochet gave Boston five innings of two-run ball on the bump to start. Boston outfielder Wilyer Abreu homered twice, rookie Kristian Campbell shook off some debut jitters and recorded his first MLB knock and the Red Sox wrapped up an overall solid first impression of their 2025 squad.
Judging from the first of 162, Hendriks won’t need to rush back to join the Red Sox.
Featured image via Chris Tilley/Imagn Images
