TEMPE, Ariz. — After spending the past 11 seasons as a mainstay on the Chicago Cubs rotation, Kyle Hendricks walks into Tempe Diablo Stadium feeling a sense of normalcy being in a new environment.
“It was almost odd, in a way, to be with one team for that long,” Hendricks said. “Growing up, you're playing with different teams all over the place. The longest I've been with the same team was in college for three years. I feel so lucky and grateful to have gotten that amount of time with such a good organization, but it feels really good, on the other hand, to have something new. This feels more normal.”
Hendricks’ Cubs tenure did not end well. He had the worst season in his career by far, posting a 5.92 ERA in 24 starts. Seven starts into the season, Hendricks was sent to the bullpen for a month.
After his month in the bullpen, Hendricks threw 5.2 innings pitched and only gave up one earned run with eight strikeouts in his first start back. A flash of the pitcher he once was in his heyday on those perennial contending Cubs teams.
From there, Hendricks started trending in the right direction. He made 17 starts after his stint in the bullpen and had an ERA of 4.73, with three of those starts being blowups of six or more earned runs. Hendricks finished the season on a high note, though, and had a 2.89 ERA in his five starts in September.
“I got back into kind of who I was at the end of the season,” Hendricks said. “I changed a lot of things in my routine. I really wanted to keep those going through the winter and the off-season. I really attacked that and I feel like I’m in a good spot.”
Hendricks’ second half of the season was noticeable enough for the Angels to sign him to a one-year $2.5 million contract as their first free agent signing of the off-season in early November.
“We believe in him,” general manager Perry Minasian said. “Not too distant past. If you look at two years ago, he had outstanding years. Doing the work on him and what he brings to the clubhouse, we believe he can still be very productive. He'll bring a lot to the club and we're excited to have him.”
In terms of what he can bring to the clubhouse, the 35-year-old has all the experience that the Angels are looking for. He’s won an ERA title, he’s been an innings eater for most of his career, he has 33 starts in the postseason and he’s won a World Series. Hendricks has the experience and pedigree to help the young arms on the staff develop into quality pitchers.
But Hendricks isn’t forcing the issue with his conversations with the youngsters, for now.
“I'm the new guy right now,” Hendricks said. “It's just very surface level, getting to know them, just being one of the guys. I'm not coming in and coaching. That's not who I am. Everybody's talking baseball at some point, so it just comes up organically. That's kind of how I like to go about things.”
Hendricks is far from your modern-day pitcher. He isn’t like the Angels' young arms because he has to get outs differently than how pitchers typically do these days.
Pitchers typically get outs with higher velocity and strikeout rates. Hendricks, however, has to throw a sinker because of how low his velocity is. He averages 87.6 miles per hour on his sinker compared to the league-average 93.8 miles per hour on fastballs. He also has a 15% strikeout rate compared to the league-average 22.2%.
All of this leads to Hendricks having to be extra aware of hitters’ tendencies and matchups to build a game plan for success.
“He manipulates the baseball,” manager Ron Washington said. “He's not going to overpower anyone, but he will see where there's an opportunity for him to shoot that fastball in a certain area because he knows he's got a hitter looking someplace else and take advantage of it. That's pitching, and he is a pitcher.”
The game of baseball is increasingly becoming analytically driven, using data to create pitches with more spin, movement and perceived velocity. The Angels recently finished the construction of their new Player Development Center, which includes, new batting cages and bullpens with cameras and tracking data.
The first look at our new Player Development Center 👀 pic.twitter.com/sUhzdOYuap
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) February 12, 2025
With the lack of velocity and overall stuff on the mound, Hendricks is using the data differently. Hendricks isn’t using the analytics to find more spin or velocity. He’s trying to find consistency.
“Consistency is always number one,” Hendricks said. “Having these numbers to back up what your stuff is looking like, how it's presenting to the hitter, it can only make that consistency easier, in a way, to know what you're searching for. Now you just put in the work to have that show through every single day.”
Hendricks said that however his stuff is playing in the bullpens, that’s what he wants to see consistently. Once the numbers start to lose consistency, that is when he and the coaching staff begin to make adjustments.
“Other than that, I'm attacking the game,” Hendricks said. “I'm trying to break down the hitter. I'm looking at it from a game perspective. Is he aggressive, patient, 0-0 count, count-specific stuff, staying away from slug, just playing baseball.
“So that's kind of that balance of knowing when to use what. When you get into a game, I have to have all that game information, not the metrics of my sinker at that point.”
Hendricks enters his 11th spring training as a big leaguer coming off the worst season in his career. It would be easy for a pitcher in this situation to be down on himself or enter camp with a chip on his shoulder, but not Hendricks. He’s entering spring training ready for the next chapter in his career.
“I expect myself to show up every single day and be a great teammate and just give it everything I have and work hard,” Hendricks said. “I'm just super excited for this opportunity, excited to get to know and get close with all these guys in here and learn from all of them. There’s some amazing minds, coaching staff, players, guys that have done a lot in this game. You never stop growing and learning.”