BIOGRAPHY
Liam Hendriks was born February 10, 1989, in Perth, Western Australia. He is a pitcher in the MLB.
Hendriks pitched for the Perth Heat in the 2008 Claxton Shield and went 3–0 with a 1.90 ERA and 25 strikeouts, a competition high. He was named the Rookie of the Year for that season.
In 2019, Hendriks took over as the Athletics' closer after an injury to Blake Treinen and made his first career All-Star Game, as a replacement for Charlie Morton. He also earned the inaugural All-MLB Second team honors. Hendriks enjoyed the best season of his career, finishing with a record of 4-4 with an ERA of 1.80 in 75 games, including 2 starts. He also recorded 25 saves while striking out 124 batters in 85 innings. In 2020, Hendriks continued his dominance from 2019, finishing with a 3-1 record with an ERA of 1.78 in 24 games. He recorded 14 saves and 37 strikeouts in 25+1⁄3 innings. In the postseason, Hendriks was 1-0 with a 3.18 ERA against the Chicago White Sox in the 2020 ALWCS & Houston Astros in the 2020 ALDS.
On January 11, 2021, Hendriks signed a three-year, $54 million deal with the Chicago White Sox, with a club option for a fourth year. Hendriks was named the AL Reliever of the Month for May; he previously received the award twice while with Oakland.
Hendriks earned the save in the 2021 All-Star Game at Coors Field in Denver won 5-2 by the American League. Entering the game in the bottom of the 9th inning, Hendriks struck out one, allowing no runs.
On August 12, 2021, Hendriks was the first winning pitcher in Iowa during the Field of Dreams. Overall in 2021, Hendriks appeared in 69 games while recording an American League-leading 38 saves and having a record of 8-3. He also had an ERA of 2.54 in 71 innings and lead all MLB relievers in strikeouts with 113. Hendriks won the Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year Award for the second year in a row becoming the second White Sox pitcher in history to win Reliever of the Year joining Bobby Thigpen.
In 2022, Hendriks struggled to start the season. In the first game of the season against the Tigers with the White Sox up 4–3, Hendriks allowed a game-tying homerun to Eric Haase with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th giving him a blown save. Hendriks then gave up a walk-off RBI single with 2 outs to Javier Baez giving him the loss. Hendriks had an ERA of 5.40 in the month of April but was able to turn it around as the season went on. But on June 14, Hendriks would be placed on the IL with a right forearm strain. Hendriks came back on the 4th of July and pitched his first game since June 10 on the same day against the Minnesota Twins where he pitched in the 8th inning and struck out the side in 14 pitches. Hendriks made his 3rd All-Star game appearance that season. He pitched a third of the 8th inning getting Atlanta Braves catcher Travis d'Arnaud to pop out to Seattle Mariners rookie center fielder Julio Rodríguez. Overall, Hendriks had a 4–4 record in 58 games with an ERA of 2.81 in 57.2 innings while striking out 85 batters and made 37 saves.
