How Kyle Hendricks is trying to soak it all in, despite a murky Chicago Cubs future

Meghan Montemurro Chicago Tribune

Kyle Hendricks tends to keep his focus on a day-to-day level.

His mantra helps center his attention on what he can control: his methodical five-day routine and each pitch he must execute over the course of a start. Life experiences and age also put things in perspective.

There are times Hendricks, 33 and now in his 10th major-league season, tries to take things in and appreciate the moment. That especially was true May 25 at Wrigley Field when Hendricks made his season debut. The uncertainty surrounding Hendricks’ capsular tear in his right shoulder last year ended his season in early July and required nearly 11 months for him to get back into a big-league game.

“You start to smell the roses, like they say, just a little bit more,” Hendricks told the Tribune. “I looked around, really soaked it in. You’re just so grateful for what you’re able to do on a day-in and day-out basis. Obviously you’re in the moment and in the competition of doing your work, but for sure as I’ve gotten a little older, there’s been more times where I’ve sat back and looked at how grateful I am for how everything’s worked out.

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“When you’re young, you’re just trying to get to the next day. I won’t fully stop and look back until it’s all over. But there’s obviously more and more of that the further you go on in your career.”

Hendricks has given the Cubs exactly what they needed through 11 outings this season, six of which have been quality starts. Being able to perform pain-free is a stark contrast to what he experienced trying to pitch through his shoulder injury leading up to his final season start July 5, 2022. Every time he went through his pre-inning warmup, the first five to 10 throws were “just hell.”

“You don’t really don’t notice how hurt you are or how bad it feels, you’re almost trying to talk yourself through it and you don’t want to admit how bad it is maybe,” Hendricks said. “You can move your arm, the ball is going to come out, but the amount of pain and the stuff that you’re compensating — now when you feel healthy again it really illuminates just really how bad you did feel.”

Hendricks didn’t publicly let on to how compromised he was as he tried pitching through his shoulder problem last season. His inconsistencies, posting a 4.80 ERA in 16 starts, raised questions about the direction of his career. Hendricks maintained belief in himself through the struggles and, with a smile, noted playing the underdog role has been the story of his career.

“When you’re hurt and you’re not feeling great and then you’re having to answer for everything you’re doing — it’s part of it, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do — but deep down you just know you don’t have everything you should have and really how much tougher that makes it,” Hendricks said. “The margin for error in this game is so small. The confidence obviously comes back when you come back and you’re feeling healthy and you’re doing the things you know you can do, proving it to yourself again, really, I mean, it helps the confidence soar and with the confidence then starts coming in the results.

“I’m having so much fun again.”

The roster churn over the last three years has left Hendricks as the last player in the clubhouse from the 2016 World Series title team, the link from what the last core accomplished to what this group wants to achieve. Hendricks doesn’t often think about his last-man-standing status, predominantly when he’s asked about the topic, but his status as the longest-tenured Cub does sometimes cross his mind. It can be hard not to when a majority of his teammates were acquired in the last two years.

“To still be a consistent force here, it just again adds to the luck of it all and how grateful I am for the opportunity they’ve given me,” Hendricks said. “So I try and do the best I can to take advantage of that opportunity, to take the ball every fifth day and be the pitcher, number one, because that’s what’s kept the ability for me to stay here.”

Hendricks’ short- and long-term future in Chicago is murky. The Cubs (48-51) are taking a three-game winning streak into Tuesday’s opener of the City Series and are in trade deadline limbo. They are trending toward becoming buyers ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline and must take care of business in their next six games against the White Sox and Cardinals.

Hendricks’ yearslong relationship with president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer can be an asset at a time with so many unknowns.

“There’s so much mutual respect back and forth between the two of us, and I think we both know each other’s personality,” said Hendricks, who has a team option for 2024. “He knows I’m going to go about my business and not expect much, really my agent takes care of the conversations and that’s how I really respect it to go and he does too. (Hoyer) isn’t coming to question me about pitches I’ve thrown and I’m not going to question him about moves. They do this for a reason so there’s all the trust in the world there.

“At the end of the day, it’s a business. Decisions have to be made to make this team better in the long run and get back to winning and whatever that entails, that’s what he’s going to do.”

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