An extended rehab course of is lastly main again to the mound for Kyle Hendricks.
The Chicago Cubs veteran right-hander is slated for a lightweight touch-and-feel bullpen Friday, the primary time he’ll pitch off a mound since struggling a capsular tear in his proper shoulder that ended his 2022 season in July.
“This fun part of getting to the next phase, getting through those long-toss programs, still feeling good and taking advantage of it all,” Hendricks mentioned Saturday.
Hendricks believes he’ll want three to 4 of these lighter bullpens earlier than he takes on a higher-intensity, full-repertoire bullpen. He estimates he’s roughly a month not on time with the expectation he’ll start the season on the injured listing. Hendricks sounded uncertain about the opportunity of pitching in a Cactus League recreation by the tip of spring.
“There’s a happy middle ground with how much I’m going to throw going forward, but I’m so excited with the group we’ve put together and I know the depth we have for the beginning of the season, we’re going to be able to cover no matter what,” Hendricks mentioned. “That gives them a lot of confidence too. They just want me to get back to being who I am and I can’t thank them enough for their support and the plan they put together for me.”
Hendricks, 33, is coming off his fewest begins (16) over a 162-game season since he debuted in 2014. He’s attempting to not put expectations on himself to be a model who posted a 3.36 ERA in his eight seasons earlier than an injury-plagued 2022.
“I’m a competitive guy so I have something to prove, obviously to myself No. 1, and that’s where it starts,” Hendricks mentioned. “I just want to be here and be part of this group. I know what we’ve put together and I know here we can go so I just want to be out there again every fifth day being that consistent guy, giving my team a chance to win so they can rely on me — that’s what I really take pride in.”
Hendricks, the one participant left on the roster from the 2016 World Series title staff, is within the remaining season of the four-year contract he signed in March 2019. The Cubs maintain a $16 million possibility on Hendricks for 2024 ($1.5 million buyout). Hendricks mentioned he hasn’t thought that far forward concerning the risk that is his final season with the Cubs.
“Baseball players in general, we kind of stay in the moment, stay in the present,” Hendricks mentioned. “I’m so excited to take advantage of what we have here. Every year is different, things change even throughout the year now, there’s so much turnover. Just take advantage of the group we have and to attack it for as long as we can and see what we can get out of it. … The future from there, that’ll take care of itself if we do what we need to do starting now.”
Battle for No. 5 starter begins
With Hendricks sidelined to start out the season, one rotation spot is up for grabs.
Right-handers Adrian Sampson, Hayden Wesneski, Javier Assad and nonroster invitees will likely be within the combine this spring, competing for the No. 5 starter spot. The NRI group vying for the chance might embrace Roenis Elías, Nick Neidert and Jordan Holloway, who all have big-league expertise.
“We’ve got more depth in our system than we’ve had in a long time from a starting pitcher standpoint,” supervisor David Ross mentioned. “I’m excited about watching how that plays out this spring. … The messaging to those guys is just go out and be yourself and do your thing. I think that’s going to be our message for everybody a lot. So I want you to pitch to your strength, compete, get ready for the season and let us make those decisions.”
Two notable pitchers who received’t be preventing for a rotation spot: Keegan Thompson and Adbert Alzolay. Thompson has been knowledgeable he will likely be within the bullpen, Ross mentioned Saturday, a job the 27-year-old thrived in final season. Alzolay can also be in play to be a part of the opening-day bullpen.
“Expect big innings out of him this year,” Ross mentioned.
Roenis Elías rides standout winter-ball efficiency into camp
A dominant efficiency within the Dominican winter league gave a glimpse of the stuff left-hander Roenis Elías can convey to the Cubs when he’s locked in.
Elías allowed solely 4 runs in 39 innings spanning seven begins for Águilas Cibaeñas whereas hanging out 38 and strolling 10 batters. Elías, 34, has appeared in 133 big-league video games (54 begins) since he reached the majors in 2014 however has pitched in solely seven video games, all final season with the Seattle Mariners, since 2019.
Elías, who threw his first stay batting observe Friday, is build up for a starter’s workload early in camp as he prepares to pitch for Team Cuba within the World Baseball Classic. However, it’s not clear but how the Cubs may need to deploy him if he makes the staff.
“He’s a guy that we see can do a lot of different things,” pitching coach Tommy Hottovy mentioned. “He’s got the weapons to be a more dominant lefty-type reliever, but he’s also got the pitch package you’d like to be able to take you one time, two times through the order if we do want to stretch him out as a starter. … He wants to be 0-1, 0-2 on every guy and he’s got multiple pitches he can throw in the strike zone, so when you have that feel and good enough stuff to be able to execute then you can usually work your way through lineups pretty well.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com