Kyle Hendricks has long been lauded as a cerebral pitcher, and for good reason. Nicknamed “The Professor,” the 34-year-old Chicago Cubs right-hander not only has an economics degree from Dartmouth College, he relies far more on guile than gas. The antithesis of your prototypical power arm, Hendricks subsists with a heater that sits in the second percentile for velocity. Moreover, he’s no spin monster in terms of breaking stuff. As he’ll readily admit, his four-pitch arsenal is sans a plus breaking ball. His 2024 season is off to a slow start. Over five turbulent outings, Hendricks has surrendered 37 hits, including a league-worst eight round-trippers, seven walks and 28 runs across just 21 innings. Adjustments are in order, but that’s nothing new for the righty. An ability to adjust accordingly has gone a long way toward his career ledger, which coming into this year included an 84 ERA- and a 3.80 FIP, as well as stingy walk and home run rates. When push comes to shove, Hendricks has proven more than capable of outsmarting big league hitters. Hendricks discussed his evolution as a pitcher and his overall M.O. on the mound during spring training.
Interview with Kyle Hendricks:
David Laurila: How have analytics impacted your evolution as a pitcher?
Kyle Hendricks: “Analytics have changed a lot throughout my career, and I’ve had to learn a lot about them. I still don’t know a whole lot, to be honest with you. We have such a good support group behind me on the pitching side, and I rely heavily on them. I’ll go through all my work, throw my bullpens, etcetera, and they’re breaking down all the data, what everything looks like. So, the most it’s probably helped me with is consistency — consistency of pitch shapes, and action on my pitches.
From there, I’ve always been a guy searching for a better curveball and how to spin a ball better. It definitely can help, just looking at the shape of my curveball, the spin overall, the spin efficiency. Things like that. Those have helped me put a good visual to what I’m searching for in a breaking ball.”
Laurila: It’s interesting to hear you say that you don’t know a lot. Zack Wheeler recently told me that [Phillies pitching coach] Caleb Cotham was his pitching nerd.
Hendricks: “I love that. It’s kind of the same for me. I don’t know if it’s from how I came up, but my pitching philosophy is to try to keep my mental state as simple as possible. I’m not a stuff guy. I’m command based. I’m commanding the baseball, trying to keep the ball on the bottom of the zone, move it in and out, up and down, and changing speeds back and forth. Throughout that whole process, I’m trying to read swings, seeing what guys are trying to do against me. So, in game, it’s all pitching focused. Outside the game, like I said, I’m relying on the staff behind me. They present me the information. I couldn’t tell you what my horizontal or vertical movements are.”
Laurila: Have you tried spiking your curveball?
Hendricks: “I’ve tried changing grips, yes. One thing I do is throw it with a spiked grip when I’m playing catch. I’m not getting in a pitching motion necessarily, but just a loose arm and getting it out front to spin it. I do that almost every day, to a degree. But once I get on the mound… I mean, I’ve messed around between a four-seam, a two-seam, and now…”
