Spare Parts: Liam Hendriks is slightly off at any altitude

Liam Hendriks (Photo by Ron Chenoy/USA TODAY Sports)

I’d forgotten that Liam Hendriks doesn’t handle altitude well until he mentioned it during his media session following the White Sox’s 2-1 victory over the Rockies Tuesday night. Granted, there isn’t much of a reason to think about it since the White Sox so seldom play anywhere with a notable elevation, but once it came up in the questions and answers

“I’ve known I struggle with altitude for years now,” Hendriks said. “I think 2014 was the first time I went to [Triple-A] Colorado Springs and threw seven innings and in between each inning I was throwing up in the bathroom. Since then I’ve been medicated, and the medication’s interesting, because I lose feeling in some of my extremities, which is always a fun time.

… then I recalled him taking hits from canned oxygen during last year’s All-Star Game around all the televised cursing.

Considering Hendriks has been hit hard over each of his three second-half outings, I’d hoped that he wasn’t going to write off Ryan McMahon’s inning-opening solo shot as a Coors creation, but he assuaged those particular fears by the end of the answer.

“It’s something you deal with. You show up and do your job to the best of your abilities. It unfortunately coincided with me not having any sort of feel to be on the mound. Everything’s been cutting a little bit, so I’m not quite going through the right kind of mechanical things that I’ve been used to. Trying to get back on kilter while dealing with altitude is always fun.”

Look it up on his Statcast page, and yup, his fastball has lost a couple inches of carry since the All-Star break. His velocity is also down a smidge, but it’s within the band of his normal range since the elite form he discovered a couple of years ago. We saw him lose touch with the pitch at a couple of points last season, so there’s no reason for overreaction.

My concern is that if the league is better at fighting off high fastballs than it used to be, then Hendriks might be a little more vulnerable when hitters get to see a worse version of the pitch they’re going to the plate to beat. In this scenario, a measured reaction to such issues is warranted. Hendriks has responded by throwing fastballs barely half the time this month, his lowest rate since assuming this high-leverage version of himself in 2019, so his own response is measured, but detectable.

Spare Parts

The expanded postseason probably means fewer true sellers, but the starting pitching market is surprisingly rich. That’s partially because some second-division teams have had the best available arms (Luis Castillo, Frankie Montas), but also because some teams might add to the pool due to organizational surpluses (Cleveland, Houston), or because, in Detroit’s case, their first plans to build a contending rotation have fallen apart due to injuries and Eduardo Rodriguez’s situation.

A lot of these hitters would add to the White Sox’s general clog at first base/left field/DH, which is why David Peralta makes an increasing amount of sense to me as a fit on this team. Mike Petriello said Peralta wasn’t originally going to be included on this list, but the big jump in his fly ball rate makes him more intriguing than what his long track record had previously suggested.

This is the time of the year where Carlos Rodón hit a wall with the White Sox last year. He’s allowed five runs in each of his last two starts with the Giants, including a frustrating six innings against Arizona on Tuesday. It’s unwise to try to separate it from mere regression (his ERA’s still just 3.18), but it’s worth watching to see how he handles the next few weeks to better judge the White Sox’s reasoning for not issuing him the qualifying offer. It’s not off to a great start.

Dylan Cease’s leaps in consecutive seasons have propelled him to crack FanGraphs’ list of players with the most trade value. The series has 20 spots to go, and I’m most curious to see if where Luis Robert ends up. He fell from 14th to 30th in last year’s exercise due to the hip injury, but I’d guess that he’s recaptured most of the value lost, even with the recent bout of lightheadedness.

Every time Jason Benetti gets a new assignment, it’s worth wondering whether he’ll be able to maintain full(ish)-time duties with the White Sox, especially since we just saw the Blackhawks lose Eddie Olczyk to Seattle due in part to differences in appreciating national and local priorities. A bigger, more entrenched role in Fox’s college football ranks might actually make it easier to balance the two. Or maybe any real concern is unwarranted, because everything written about Benetti suggests he’s impossible to overwork.

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phillyd

With only one year left before FA after this year, I wonder if the Angels would trade Ohtani.

joewho112

Definitely. As much as people love stars, baseball success really requires filling as many holes on the roster as possible. If you have to choose between one star and 3 bad players or 4 good players, the 4 good players is the way to go.

a-t

Huh, I was wondering about the ball cutting on Hendriks… it looked like he was getting ‘around’ the ball instead of his usual excellence at staying on top of the ball.

tommytwonines

I kinda like the different announcing crews while Stoney takes a breather and Benetti goes national. It’s not a bad mix now and I’m happy Benetti has prime-time swag.

Soxfan2

I’m not sure what everyone else’s reaction was but I thought Curt Bloom did a good job filling in last week. I was a fan.

Right Size Wrong Shape

I agree. He sounded a little nervous at first, but it was an enjoyable broadcast. You could tell he was having fun, he was prepared, and he knew the whole league, not just the minors. I’ve always enjoyed listening to him and was happy to see him get a shot.

a-t

Benetti is a star broadcaster, I feel pretty lucky to have him as the regular play by play guy whenever I listen to basically anyone else. Sox better do what they can to make sure he has a job for life here

Joliet Orange Sox

I think many baseball play-by-play guys work other sports. I remember hearing Harry Caray do a college basketball game back in the day and someone told me Harry did hockey too. Jim Durham, Joe McConnell, and John Rooney are all Sox announcers who did a lot of other work off the top of my head.

I hope and expect Benetti will be with the Sox a long time.

upnorthsox

Jack Brickhouse did everything back in the day.

upnorthsox

From that 9 options for a power bat article, it has a link to the barreled ball leaders:

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/statcast?type=batter&year=2022&position=&team=&min=q

This is so Sox 2022 in a nutshell. Our first entry on the list is at 62 with Abreu and our 2nd best hitter Vaughn doesn’t make an appearance until 146. In the meantime, the Twins have 6 on the list before Abreu

joewho112

I had noticed Benetti missing from several of the game I watched recently. Has he been out sick or announcing other games?

palkadance

Much as I love the idea of adding a bat, every time I consider it I start thinking, then who doesn’t play? Eloy has to play. Vaughn has to play. Grandal has to play, but he won’t catch more than half the time. Sheets probably goes to AAA. Abreu never sits. Is it Pollock? Are we giving up on him? I’m not necessarily against that… I just fear that TLR will have absolutely no idea how to add ANOTHER player to the lineup, since, in his world, no one is a backup or bench player. Everyone plays all the time everywhere. No one has a role. We’re looking at even more frustration if a good player comes here, and sits… behind Leury.

a-t

Yeah, they’re a little stuck in terms of roster space.

I wish Sheets was hitting. If he was, it’d be much easier to trade him— something like Sheets, McGuire, and probably a couple prospects to San Diego for Ha-Seong Kim would be a neat resolution. SDP needs power, especially lefty “outfield” power, and a decent backup catcher too bc Nola has fallen off badly. Kim would be a short and long term 2B solution. But I don’t think they’d be interested in this year’s Sheets.

Last edited 1 year ago by a-t
soxygen

Sheets has minor league options, and he has benefitted from his time in AAA when he has been sent back down. I don’t think there is any reason the Sox need to trade him. They can just send him to Charlotte.

The off-season decisions on guys like Abreu, Grandal, and Eloy should determine whether Sheets is with the Sox in 2023.

Last edited 1 year ago by soxygen
As Cirensica

Chris Archer looking awful today. Allowed all 4 first hitters of the game to reach base, and the Twins already losing 3 x 1

The Twins are done if they don’t get some pitching help.

As Cirensica

And now the Twins tied the game 🙄