Two pitchers put on Chicago Cubs logos on the caps of their Hall of Fame plaques. Two extra Hall of Famers spent extra of their careers with the Cubs than different groups.
One Cubs pitcher has a statue at Wrigley Field.
Five received Cy Young awards. More than 30 had been All-Stars as Cubs.
But one who can’t be discovered on any of these lists has achieved issues none of these others have, the issues which may put Kyle Hendricks on a listing of Cubs pitchers so elite for his or her significance in franchise historical past that they are often counted on one hand — at the least one not belonging to “Three Finger” Brown.
“He’s in the top 10 — oh, for sure,” mentioned Fergie Jenkins, the best pitcher in franchise historical past, who’s alone as a member of all these lists above.
That’s what makes Hendricks’ practically yearlong comeback from a capsular tear in his throwing shoulder particularly intriguing and value watching over these subsequent 4 months, not just for what it’d imply for this membership this season but additionally subsequent yr and past for the staff and his understated, outsized place in its historical past.
“There’s just a lot that he’s done over his career here,” mentioned Cubs broadcaster Ryan Dempster, a former All-Star pitcher and Game 1 playoff starter. “Big moments, complete games, shutouts, the Maddox game against the Cardinals that day. He’s just had all these really special moments. It wasn’t just one or two years.”
The day Hendricks debuted for the Cubs in 2014 in Cincinnati was the identical day Anthony Rizzo challenged your complete inhabitants of the Reds dugout to a combat — maybe the symbolic turning level in a Cubs’ tanking rebuild course of that produced 97 wins the subsequent season.
Since then, Hendricks has made extra playoff begins than any pitcher in Cubs historical past, received an ERA title, earned three opening-day begins, beat the Cardinals in 2019 with a four-hit, 81-pitch shutout (the “Maddux” recreation), stayed ready sufficient by way of the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020 to pitch a shutout within the delayed opener and, most importantly, grow to be the one Cubs pitcher to win a postseason pennant clincher (by beating Clayton Kershaw) in 2016 and two weeks later grow to be the one Cubs pitcher to start out a victorious Game 7 within the World Series.
“I personally thought he could have pitched the whole game the way he had command of that (Cleveland) lineup,” Dempster mentioned of a begin from which Hendricks was pulled after a two-out stroll within the fifth with a 5-1 lead. “I’m not saying anyone was incorrect for taking him out, I’ve by no means seen a beginning pitcher in Game 7 of a World Series have that a lot management of a recreation and a lineup.
“I mean, maybe you’re going back to (Jack) Morris and (John) Smoltz,” Dempster mentioned of Morris’ 10-inning full recreation over Smoltz in a 1-0 Minnesota Twins victory over the Atlanta Braves in 1991. “He had utter domination. He just wasn’t allowed to finish it.”
If something, that is likely to be the largest fast query dealing with Hendricks and the Cubs as he heads into Monday’s third begin again from his prolonged injured-list keep.
He’s within the closing assured yr of his contract with a 2024 possibility. Does he pitch nicely sufficient that they choose up the choice? That they lengthen him? That they commerce the final man left from the 2016 championship at this yr’s deadline?
“I’m hopefully nowhere close to the end,” Hendricks, 33, mentioned after 5 good innings in opposition to the highly effective Tampa Bay Rays that “felt much more like myself.”
“That’s where my focus is now, being back healthy.”
And if that results in following teammates Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ with extensions heading into subsequent yr, “That’s where my mind’s at,” Hendricks mentioned. “If I just do the day-to-day stuff, it goes back to that. Everything will take care of itself. They obviously know I love it here.”
Imagine if he had been to be within the Cubs’ subsequent playoff rotation.
He has.
“That’s what I’m really wanting to do right there,” mentioned the right-hander, who turned simply the twelfth pitcher in franchise historical past to pitch in 10 seasons — as many as Jenkins and Greg Maddux, greater than Jon Lester or Rick Sutcliffe.
Hendricks doesn’t have the statue that Jenkins does, by no means had the All-Star rep and big-ticket swagger that Lester dropped at the Cubs nor the electrical stuff of Jake Arrieta or Kerry Wood.
But one in every of solely two pitchers in Cubs historical past to have a Game 7 World Series begin on his resumé will chart much more new territory if the final man standing from the Last Great Cubs Team continues to be standing on the mound in the midst of Jed Hoyer’s Next Great Cubs staff.
“That’s what you play the game for,” Hendricks mentioned. “That’s the baseball you want to play. You want all that pressure on you. That’s when it really means something. That’s obviously the path, and I know we’re on the right path to get there.”
Said supervisor David Ross, who in 2015 and ‘16 was one of Hendricks’ catchers: “I definitely wouldn’t underestimate him.”
If Hendricks over time has been overshadowed in moments or seasons by the likes of Arrieta, Lester or John Lackey, he has by no means been taken as a right by Ross, the supervisor mentioned.
“Of course, he’s pitched big moments, but I think people should look at the body of work, at just how well he’s done for this franchise, in an era when everybody’s throwing 100 and he’s getting outs at a speed that everybody would question right now if you’re drafting guys,” Ross mentioned.
“Man, has he done some amazing things here and been consistent with it. I trust that guy as much as anybody in my life when it comes to just how he’s going to compete, how he works, what his mentality is, how he’s going to stay in the moment and do what he does.”
Consider that from his debut by way of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Hendricks had a profession ERA of three.12 — among the many greatest in baseball over that stretch and higher than such embellished, nine-figure-contract guys Justin Verlander (3.21), Gerrit Cole (3.19), Arrieta (3.21) and Lester (3.42).
“When he’s healthy, he’s as trustworthy as anybody we’ve had,” Ross mentioned.
Which makes Monday’s begin compelling for any Cubs-ophite, no matter how compelling the remainder of the staff may appear at instances, after which the one after that in San Francisco, and so forth.
The approach Jenkins sees it, that man who felt a lot extra like himself Tuesday night time is “totally” this staff’s Game 1 playoff starter if he’s right here on that day.
“He goes out there and challenges the hitters,” Jenkins mentioned. “He goes right after the hitter.”
Dempster, for all he has achieved on the sphere and locally, additionally likes to take credit score for the Cubs touchdown Hendricks in one of many biggest trades in staff historical past.
Check that.
“The greatest,” he mentioned. “The greatest.”
It was solely as a result of Dempster enforced his no-trade rights on the deadline in 2012 to nix Theo Epstein’s take care of the Atlanta Braves for pitcher Randall Delgado that Epstein was compelled to pivot to the Texas Rangers within the closing minutes to make the deal for Hendricks.
“Get rid of an old, aging veteran for a guy who goes on to start Game 7 of the World Series?” Dempster mentioned. “That’s the greatest trade.”
Hard to argue in opposition to its influence.
“He’s going to go down as one of the top 10 starting pitchers in Cubs history,” Dempster mentioned. “And by the point it’s all mentioned and achieved, it is likely to be somewhat extra like the highest 5, who is aware of? Because you received the World Series too. You did the factor that’s the final purpose.
“We can all have personal achievements, but what did it lead to? I had a really good career as a Cub. We had two playoff appearances that we got swept. So for the ultimate goal, it didn’t do anything. Kyle did all that good stuff plus in the ultimate goal, he was a big part of the reason why we win a World Series. That has to carry some serious weight.”
Serious, historic, vital weight like few others in franchise historical past.
“I can’t wait to have all those memories to look back on. It’s just been incredible,” Hendricks mentioned. “I may by no means have imagined myself having this all through my profession thus far, even at this level. I might have by no means imagined this.
“But I’m not ready for it to be done. At all.”
Gordon Wittenmyer is a contract reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com