Kyle Hendricks: An Underdog For Sure. But One Who Continues To Defy Expectations

After nearly no-hitting the Saint Louis Cardinals during Monday night’s Chicago Cubs’ 4-1 victory, Kyle Hendricks has nothing left to prove to the baseball world. His resume this season speaks for itself, and should speak very loudly in the minds of this year’s Cy Young voters.

Coming out of spring training as the team’s number five starter, Kyle Hendricks certainly had a lot to prove. He was coming off a rather so-so 2015 season, one which saw him produce an 8-7 record, to go along with a 3.95 ERA. There wasn’t much optimism for Hendricks leading up to this season, given that he had struggled mightily at times during the 2015 second half, producing a 4.44 ERA in 15 post all-star starts. In short: There was plenty of pressure surrounding Kyle Hendricks to begin this season, for even though to the team he was just their “fifth starter”, he would still be taking the mound for a Cubs team that to many were declared World Series favorites right from the get-go.

For the first month of the 2016 season, Hendricks produced a stat line that was very reminiscent of his 2015 season as a whole. In four April starts, Kyle went 1-2, with a 3.91 ERA. What made the start of this season nearly nearly identical to his entire body of work in 2015 was the fact that opposing batters were hitting an equal .244 against Hendricks. Good, but not spectacular through any means.

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The Kyle Hendricks that Cubs’ fans had gotten accustomed to watching on a routine basis throughout the 2015 season, followed by the first month of this season, was the one that we were suppose to come to expect from here on out. An average pitcher at best. One that would never be producing at an all-star level, let alone a Cy Young level.

The odds were stacked against Hendricks from the very beginning. Through no fault of his own, Kyle wasn’t going to light up the radar gun any time he took the mound. His fastball to this day typically sits around 87 mph, and will go no higher than 90. As a result of not possessing an overpowering mid-to-high 90’s fastball to blow by hitters, Hendricks has had to make his living on the mound through focusing more on painting the outer-edges of the plate with precise location. In the past, a mistake pitch made over the heart of the plate would more than likely result in some costly damage done onto him by opposing hitters, whom could be seen just licking their chops to get a hold of one.

Well, after the first month of the season, Kyle Hendricks began changing his approach on the mound, starting with having more confidence in throwing his secondary pitches. While it became evident that Hendricks throws primarily fastballs and changeups to keep hitters off balance during at-bats, this season has seen Kyle use his curveball a tad more frequently with better command than last year. The use of his slow curveball (which averages just over 75 mph) more frequently in counts has made his less-than-stellar fastball appear to have more life on it, while also helping compliment his bread-and-butter wipe-out pitch: the downward-sinking 80 mph changeup.

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Having added confidence in his pitch arsenal has no doubt transformed Kyle Hendricks this season. Living on location his entire career, Kyle is now able to throw regularly all three of his signature pitches down low in the zone for strikes, whether called or swinging. Now, if Hendricks makes a mistake by leaving a high 80’s fastball over the heart of the plate, which he will do from time-to time as will any pitcher, hitters are less likely to be sitting dead-red on it waiting to take advantage, because they have two other well-thrown pitches to worry about.

As a result of the adjustments that Kyle has made throughout this season, he has transformed himself into “not an all-star pitcher” (For Hendricks got snubbed on that one despite his impressive 2.55 first-half ERA), but rather: a Cy Young candidate. Yes. That’s true. Who would have thought coming into this season that the words “Kyle Hendricks” and “Cy Young” would be used together in the same sentence? Not me, and certainly not you.

Well, baseball is an unpredictable sport, for anything can happen on a baseball diamond during any given time. And sure enough, Kyle Hendricks’ 2016 season thus far has been just that: unpredictable. Who would have predicted that by this time, Kyle Hendricks would be leading all of baseball in ERA? Furthermore, who could have predicted that Kyle Hendricks would find himself just three outs short of throwing a no-hitter, against out of all teams: The Saint Louis Cardinals?!

It’s funny how baseball works. Sure, some might say it’s boring, for the games may take too long to finish up, or instant replay challenges aren’t quite as “instant” as one might hope. Even so, what isn’t boring is the fact that players such as Kyle Hendricks: players whom are deemed as underdogs right from the very beginning of their baseball careers, can rise up to the challenge and play to a level that is well beyond what anyone would have expected.

That is what makes the sport of baseball so special to watch! The rise of an underdog, whom everybody is rooting for each and every day to go out there and succeed. By now, it has become no secret that Kyle Hendricks has been an underdog through much of his career. Only this time, things appear different. Instead of embracing that “underdog” image on a routine basis, Hendricks is beginning to embrace something much bigger to add to his name with each passing start: A real shot at winning an NL Cy Young Award. Something no one could have predicted “an underdog” would win.

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