Hendriks ‘making progress’ but no timeline for return
HOUSTON — White Sox nearer Liam Hendriks is making superb progress in his battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, though he stays in remedy and nonetheless has work forward of him.
General supervisor Rick Hahn didn’t have a selected timeline to share for Hendriks’ baseball return, however the White Sox is not going to place him on the 60-day injured checklist on the season’s outset.
“And that is on purpose,” Hahn mentioned. “Hopefully in some unspecified time in the future in April, towards the top of April, I’ll have the ability to get somewhat bit extra particular for a possible timeline for his return.
“I know that right now he’s making progress. Liam is very appreciative of the well wishes and respecting his privacy as he continues to fight his way back to the big leagues.”
Hendriks, 34, is likely one of the greatest closers within the sport with 75 saves and 198 strikeouts in opposition to 23 walks over his final two seasons masking 128 2/3 innings. Along along with his spouse Kristi, Hendriks has tackled numerous charitable endeavors involving the folks of Chicago and its surrounding areas.
The right-hander performed lengthy toss and even threw bullpens as he was receiving remedy throughout Spring Training, however he’s not anticipated to be with the workforce throughout its season-opening collection in Houston or for the house opener in Chicago on Monday. Manager Pedro Grifol will go along with a closer-by-committee strategy in Hendriks’ absence, focusing extra on pockets of leverage with sure pitchers who can be found on that given day.
“He’s got a lot of options down there, whether it’s [Kendall] Graveman who has had the most recent closing experience. Joe Kelly has done some,” Hahn mentioned. “[Aaron] Bummer, and even Reynaldo López, who has regarded improbable over the course of spring.
“Not having a set closer per se on Opening Day does free Pedro up a little bit to mix and match and play leverage situations. So, I think he’s got multiple quality late-inning options and he’s going to be free to deploy them however he wishes each day.”
