Phillies: Considering their real off-season needs now

Liam Hendriks

An expressive Australian who will be 32 for the 2021 season, Liam Hendriks has a fastball now in the mid-nineties, and he has finally hit his stride in the last two years. His ERA figure for that period is 1.79, and his WHIP has been a very impressive 0.897. This followed 4.72 and 1.372 figures over eight years.

Now, some Phillies fans might be saying, “Ah, jeez – 32 – another over-the-hill guy,” but the fact is Hendriks has only 516-plus innings on his arm after ten years in MLB. Also, the figures above do not suggest over-the-hill status in the least.  On the contrary, they suggest something else that journalists may not be quite getting.

Hendriks is primarily a fastball pitcher, but an MLB pitcher at the age of 31 has other pitches. He has battled injuries for a good part of this career, but is now healthy again.

Also, for those this means something to, the right-hander is a religious individual, and he credits his faith to an extent for his recent success. For those who like strikes thrown on the edges, he looks like a guy who could be very useful – and for more than one inning, a phenomenon that seems to be returning to MLB.

Hendriks can carry a load for his team, and he doesn’t shy away from a big moment at this point in his career, as evidenced by his effort in the A’s win-or-go-home effort against the White Sox in their most recent Wild Card series.

In the immediately previous game against Chicago, he had not gotten the save despite 49 pitches. The following day he wanted the ball. He struck out the side.

Could that have been the high point of his career? Perhaps. But Liam Hendriks seems more worth the money than a number of guys who recently got relievers’ contracts from the Phillies. At worst, he seems like six-through-nine innings-eater.