It happened! Liam Hendriks has pitched for the Chicago White Sox in the year 2023! For a long time, it was unclear if that was going to happen.
During the off-season, Liam Hendriks was diagnosed with cancer. He battled hard and eventually defeated it. When someone is going through things like that, baseball feels insignificant but it is nice to see him back doing what he loves to do.
Liam prepared for these moments (in terms of baseball) with AAA Charlotte but there is nothing like getting back into the Major League action. Monday night against the Angels will be a night the Hendriks family never forgets.
He came into the game in the eighth inning following Michael Kopech, Gregory Santos, and Keynan Middleton. The music was loud, the lights were flickering, and a standing ovation was there for Liam Hendriks as he entered the ballgame.
Liam Hendriks pitched for the Chicago White Sox on Monday night.
After a long ovation following his warmup pitches, he finally was able to pitch in Major League Baseball again. It has been a long off-season for him.
The first pitch he threw was 96 miles per hour right down the middle for a strike. Yasmani Grandal took the ball and saved it for Liam to keep forever. It was a beautiful moment.
After that, Hendriks did yield a couple of runs as the Angels' offense got to Liam in his first game back. That isn't how you want a guy to come back from something like this but baseball is very hard and Liam Hendriks knows that.
It might take some time for him to get back to that elite closer that we know he is. That is why they used him in the 8th inning during a game they were losing anyway.
This was a moment that should be inspiring to anyone going through what Liam went through. This was something much bigger than baseball. It is a moment White Sox fans will remember forever.