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Hendriks originally signed with the Twins in early 2007 as a teenager out of Australia. He’d make his professional debut with the GCL Twins and post a 2.05 ERA with a 1.18 WHIP while striking out 52 batters in 44 innings. That winter, he pitched for Australia in the final Olympic Qualification Tournament, but then he needed back surgery that cost him the entire 2008 campaign. In 2009, he returned to the mound and the majority of his starts came at Low-A where he was nearly two years younger than the average age of the competition. For the season, he made 14 starts and posted a 3.55 ERA with a 1.29 WHIP. He was limited to fewer than 84 innings, but he struck out 75 and only walked 16 batters. The 2010 season was his coming out party as he dominated both Low- and High-A on his way to flying up Twins prospect lists. He pitched over 100 innings for the first time in his career while posting a 1.74 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP. Hendriks posted career bests in strikeouts per nine, walks per nine, and hits per nine. At season’s end, Seth and I ranked him as the team’s third best pitching prospect even though he had yet to make his Double-A debut. Minnesota didn’t mess around with Hendriks during the 2011 season and that was easy to do when the club was on their way to losing close to 100 games. The bulk of his innings came at Double-A and he was successful at that level by posting a 2.70 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. From there, the Twins pushed him to Triple-A and he allowed 25 earned runs in just over 49 innings. September wasn’t going to be pretty for the Twins, but Hendriks was still pushed to make his big-league debut. In four starts, he allowed 16 runs in 23 1/3 innings with a 16 to 6 strikeout to walk ratio. Hendriks was still only 23-years old, so there was plenty of promise in his right arm. He dominated the next year during his time at Triple-A with a 2.20 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP. However, that performance didn’t translate to the big-league level as he struggled to post a 6.43 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP. As far as his time as a starter, it was getting close to being sink or swim time. As a 24-year-old, Hendriks was not nearly as successful at Triple-A, but it was going to be hard to live up to his 2012 numbers. The 2013 season wound up being his final year in the Twins organization. He bounced around between Triple-A and the big leagues throughout the season even though the Twins were on their way to losing 96 games. Minnesota’s rotation that year included Kevin Correia, Mike Pelfrey, Scott Diamond, and Sam Deduno. Hendriks struggled, but it’s not like the team had a lot of big names blocking his path. The Twins never gave Hendriks a shot in the bullpen and they designated him for assignment in December 2013 while he still had minor league options remaining. Minnesota was in the midst of a terrible run of baseball where the club lost 92+ games in six out of seven seasons. Maybe the front office thought he would sneak through waivers or maybe they didn’t think he could be successful in the bullpen. Either way it looks like the Twins missed out on one of baseball’s best relievers. It’s not as if the Twins were the only organization that missed the boat on Hendriks. He spent the next few years bouncing between multiple organizations. The Cubs claimed him from the Twins and 10 days later the Orioles claimed him. He didn’t pitch for either of these organizations as he was claimed by Toronto in February 2014. He’d pitch parts of the next two seasons with the Blue Jays and the Royals before finally finding himself, literally and figuratively, in Oakland. It’s hard to predict what path Hendriks would have taken had he stayed in Minnesota. Perhaps being designated for assignment that many times put a chip on his shoulder. He also might have needed to end up in Oakland for that club to find his magic spark on the mound. Either way, it seems like he will be causing headaches for Twins fans in the years to come. What are your thoughts on the way Hendriks was handled by the Twins? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email -
In a normal season finances aren’t great for the future players of Major League Baseball. They are paid pennies on the dollar and make substantially less than minimum wage over the course of a full year. During spring training, they go unpaid, and the only financial help they get equates to little more than meal money. Earlier in the development of this global pandemic teams around the league negotiated to pay something like $400 per week to each minor league player. That money was always tied to a date as a deadline, and it’s now less than a week away. Once May 31 hits there are no more guarantees in place. In fact, we already know that the upcoming amateur draft is being shortened to just five rounds, which furthers the plan to scrap something like 40 affiliated teams. While the casual assumption is that big bonuses are paid out to all draft picks and everyone is capable of supporting themselves on their journey, it’s hardly a thought rooted in reality. It’s a very small percentage of players that receive hefty bonuses, and there are plenty of guys on top prospect lists that are simply looking to make ends meet. Without some sort of a renegotiated agreement minor league players will essentially go a year and a half without receiving a “real” paycheck. Obviously, the above assumption is working out of the premise that we won’t have minor league baseball in 2020. While it’s been shot down that the season will be cancelled, I think we can all agree that it’s going to be dramatically altered. With major league teams trending towards an extended taxi squad, we’re probably looking at something where just a few players not on the 40-man roster end up being utilized. Given the logistics of playing fanless games across the country in smaller locales at ballparks that are traditionally lightly manned, it’s an uphill battle that doesn’t seem worth fighting. A developmental league of sorts makes a ton of sense. Having minor league players housed at their spring training facilities and then playing what would amount to intrasquad games could certainly work. Not having a full year of development would no doubt hamper even the best of prospects. Asking guys to get work in without competition doesn’t seem like a beneficial path either. Contractually obligated to their parent clubs, minor leaguers face the reality of being virtually unemployable in the general workforce. Not only is unemployment through the roof with many businesses on hold, but it’s really only gig work that lends itself to accepting a schedule that could drastically change at a moment’s notice. There’s no denying that the grind through minor league baseball is not for the faint of heart. There’s a substantial percentage of the population that will never make it. Weeding out talent on the basis of economic malpractice doesn’t seem like an intelligent path to take, however. Should nothing be done, the futures of major league clubs across the sport will be forever impacted. Even if the finances are set in order, the havoc wreaked by this pandemic on the lifeblood of big league baseball is going to have ripple effects well into the future. https://twitter.com/KyleAGlaser/status/1265711057831485440 We have already seen some clubs take a stand and commit to their future. The San Diego Padres are the most exemplary model of this as they’ll stand by their employees and players through this storm. On the other end of the spectrum the Oakland Athletics and their billionaire owner John Fisher will cease payments to players on May 31, also holding them to their contracts making the ineligible for unemployment and not able to seek opportunity within another organization. https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1265432930614198272 Franchises are cutting ties with massive amounts of players right now, and it seems that Major League Baseball will be granted its wish to downsize the pipeline to the majors. No matter when baseball returns, and what the optics of the Major League discussions look like, it’s these minor leaguers that are constantly hung out to dry. UPDATE: The Minnesota Twins organization is stepping up once again. They've built a strong system and infrastructure by going about things the right way since instituting a new front office. They've invested so much, and to turn from it now would be tough to swallow. Good on this organization. https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1266432316848713731 Huge nugget from Twins Daily's own here as well. Despite other organizations releasing 30 or more minor leaguers in the past few days, all Twins players will be retained for the time being. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook, or email — Follow Ted Schwerzler on Twitter here -
This week represents a critical juncture for the return of Major League Baseball in 2020. It also represents another very critical time and it’s one that comes with a much more somber tone. On May 31, the payments made to minor leaguers will run out. Then what?In a normal season finances aren’t great for the future players of Major League Baseball. They are paid pennies on the dollar and make substantially less than minimum wage over the course of a full year. During spring training, they go unpaid, and the only financial help they get equates to little more than meal money. Earlier in the development of this global pandemic teams around the league negotiated to pay something like $400 per week to each minor league player. That money was always tied to a date as a deadline, and it’s now less than a week away. Once May 31 hits there are no more guarantees in place. In fact, we already know that the upcoming amateur draft is being shortened to just five rounds, which furthers the plan to scrap something like 40 affiliated teams. While the casual assumption is that big bonuses are paid out to all draft picks and everyone is capable of supporting themselves on their journey, it’s hardly a thought rooted in reality. It’s a very small percentage of players that receive hefty bonuses, and there are plenty of guys on top prospect lists that are simply looking to make ends meet. Without some sort of a renegotiated agreement minor league players will essentially go a year and a half without receiving a “real” paycheck. Obviously, the above assumption is working out of the premise that we won’t have minor league baseball in 2020. While it’s been shot down that the season will be cancelled, I think we can all agree that it’s going to be dramatically altered. With major league teams trending towards an extended taxi squad, we’re probably looking at something where just a few players not on the 40-man roster end up being utilized. Given the logistics of playing fanless games across the country in smaller locales at ballparks that are traditionally lightly manned, it’s an uphill battle that doesn’t seem worth fighting. A developmental league of sorts makes a ton of sense. Having minor league players housed at their spring training facilities and then playing what would amount to intrasquad games could certainly work. Not having a full year of development would no doubt hamper even the best of prospects. Asking guys to get work in without competition doesn’t seem like a beneficial path either. Contractually obligated to their parent clubs, minor leaguers face the reality of being virtually unemployable in the general workforce. Not only is unemployment through the roof with many businesses on hold, but it’s really only gig work that lends itself to accepting a schedule that could drastically change at a moment’s notice. There’s no denying that the grind through minor league baseball is not for the faint of heart. There’s a substantial percentage of the population that will never make it. Weeding out talent on the basis of economic malpractice doesn’t seem like an intelligent path to take, however. Should nothing be done, the futures of major league clubs across the sport will be forever impacted. Even if the finances are set in order, the havoc wreaked by this pandemic on the lifeblood of big league baseball is going to have ripple effects well into the future. We have already seen some clubs take a stand and commit to their future. The San Diego Padres are the most exemplary model of this as they’ll stand by their employees and players through this storm. On the other end of the spectrum the Oakland Athletics and their billionaire owner John Fisher will cease payments to players on May 31, also holding them to their contracts making the ineligible for unemployment and not able to seek opportunity within another organization. Franchises are cutting ties with massive amounts of players right now, and it seems that Major League Baseball will be granted its wish to downsize the pipeline to the majors. No matter when baseball returns, and what the optics of the Major League discussions look like, it’s these minor leaguers that are constantly hung out to dry. UPDATE: The Minnesota Twins organization is stepping up once again. They've built a strong system and infrastructure by going about things the right way since instituting a new front office. They've invested so much, and to turn from it now would be tough to swallow. Good on this organization. Huge nugget from Twins Daily's own here as well. Despite other organizations releasing 30 or more minor leaguers in the past few days, all Twins players will be retained for the time being. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook, or email — Follow Ted Schwerzler on Twitter here Click here to view the article
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The Minnesota Twins began the second half of their six-game road trip in Oakland tonight, looking to bounce back from their loss to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday. However, that wasn’t meant to be as the Twins came up short again tonight. In what is becoming an all to common theme of late, the Twins will need to win tomorrow to avoid their first three game losing streak of the season.Box Score Odorizzi: 3.0+ IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 61.2% strikes (46 of 84 pitches) Home Runs: Sano (13), Castro 2(10) Multi-Hit Games: Arraez (2 for 4); Sano (2 for 4, HR); Castro (3 for 4, 2 HR) WPA of +0.1: Sano .226; Castro .164 WPA of -0.1: Odorizzi -.492; Magill -.115; Cruz -.104 Download attachment: vs A's 7-2-2019.PNG (Chart via Fangraphs) A week ago, Miguel Sano couldn’t avoid striking out if his life depended on it. Fast-forward to present day, and Sano is giving us another glimpse of all that power potential we heard about for years, as he belted his fourth home run in four games to give the Twins a 2-to-0 lead in the top of the second. The Twins tacked on another run in the third inning when Max Kepler led off the inning with his 20th double of the season, followed by a Jorge Polanco infield single, giving the Twins runners on the corners with nobody out. The A’s challenged the play at first, and it appeared that Polanco was out, but the replay official ruled that the play stood as called. Nelson Cruz then came up and grounded into a double-play that scored Max Kepler from third. The A's got on the board in the bottom of the third inning when Matt Olson connected on a two-out, two-run home run to cut the Twins lead down to one. This was already Olson’s 17th home run of the season despite missing the first month of the season after having surgery on his hand. Then things fell apart for Jake Odorizzi in the fourth inning. Mark Canha reached to lead off the inning thanks to a Miguel Sano error. Odorizzi followed that up by walking Ramon Laureano and giving up a single to former Twin Robbie Grossman. It is then when a different former Twin by the name of Chris Herrmann who connected on one of those four-run home run things. Between the Grossman single and the Herrmann home run, Rocco Baldelli and the trainer were out at the mound to check on what was an apparent blister on Odorizzi’s finger. Three pitches later the Twins were down by three and Odorizzi’s night was done. In the fifth the Twins got one of those runs back when Jason Castro crushed a leadoff home run to center field, trimming the Athletics lead down to two. Per Statcast, Castro’s homer had an exit velocity of 106.3 MPH, with a launch angle of 31 degrees, and went a projected distance of 417 feet. Adalberto Mejia had a strong first game back from the 60-Day IL, going 3 and 1/3 innings, and giving up just one run. It was a little adventure for Mejia in the bottom of the fifth when he issued a one out walk to Mark Canha, before Laureano roped a double down the third base line. Canha appeared as if he was going to score on the play, but Marwin Gonzalez channeled his inner Yoenis Cespedes and gunned out Canha at home. The Athletics were still able to bring a run home in the inning, as Robbie Grossman came through with a two-out RBI base knock, and just like that the Twins were back down 7 to 4. The Twins were able to get single runs back in both the sixth and seventh innings, to trim the lead back to one run. In the fifth Gonzalez scored from first on a two-out double from Luis Arraez, aided in part by a missed diving catch from A’s center fielder Ramon Laureano that allowed the ball to get to the wall. The start of the seventh was almost identical to the fifth, as Jason Castro led off the inning with another home run to straight away center field. The A’s were able to extend the lead back up to two in the eighth when Mark Canha took Matt Magill deep, this time not giving Marwin Gonzalez a chance to throw him out at home, as the ball traveled about 50 feet over his head. Next up on our favorite game, Name that Former Twin, was Liam Hendriks who came in to shut the door on any hope of the Twins putting together a ninth inning rally. Hendriks picked up his third save of the season and improved his season ERA down to 1.35 (yes you read that right). Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: 7-2-2019 vs A's.PNG Next Three Games Wed at OAK, 8:07 pm CT (Gibson-Fiers) Thu at OAK, 3:07 pm CT (Berrios-Anderson) Fri vs TEX, 7:10 pm CT (Simpson-TBD) Last Game CHW 4, MIN 3: Twins Lose Rubber Match to White Sox After Another Long Day of Baseball Click here to view the article- 37 replies
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Box Score Odorizzi: 3.0+ IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 61.2% strikes (46 of 84 pitches) Home Runs: Sano (13), Castro 2(10) Multi-Hit Games: Arraez (2 for 4); Sano (2 for 4, HR); Castro (3 for 4, 2 HR) WPA of +0.1: Sano .226; Castro .164 WPA of -0.1: Odorizzi -.492; Magill -.115; Cruz -.104 (Chart via Fangraphs) A week ago, Miguel Sano couldn’t avoid striking out if his life depended on it. Fast-forward to present day, and Sano is giving us another glimpse of all that power potential we heard about for years, as he belted his fourth home run in four games to give the Twins a 2-to-0 lead in the top of the second. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1146246055383752704 The Twins tacked on another run in the third inning when Max Kepler led off the inning with his 20th double of the season, followed by a Jorge Polanco infield single, giving the Twins runners on the corners with nobody out. The A’s challenged the play at first, and it appeared that Polanco was out, but the replay official ruled that the play stood as called. Nelson Cruz then came up and grounded into a double-play that scored Max Kepler from third. The A's got on the board in the bottom of the third inning when Matt Olson connected on a two-out, two-run home run to cut the Twins lead down to one. This was already Olson’s 17th home run of the season despite missing the first month of the season after having surgery on his hand. Then things fell apart for Jake Odorizzi in the fourth inning. Mark Canha reached to lead off the inning thanks to a Miguel Sano error. Odorizzi followed that up by walking Ramon Laureano and giving up a single to former Twin Robbie Grossman. It is then when a different former Twin by the name of Chris Herrmann who connected on one of those four-run home run things. Between the Grossman single and the Herrmann home run, Rocco Baldelli and the trainer were out at the mound to check on what was an apparent blister on Odorizzi’s finger. Three pitches later the Twins were down by three and Odorizzi’s night was done. In the fifth the Twins got one of those runs back when Jason Castro crushed a leadoff home run to center field, trimming the Athletics lead down to two. Per Statcast, Castro’s homer had an exit velocity of 106.3 MPH, with a launch angle of 31 degrees, and went a projected distance of 417 feet. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1146267215462916097 Adalberto Mejia had a strong first game back from the 60-Day IL, going 3 and 1/3 innings, and giving up just one run. It was a little adventure for Mejia in the bottom of the fifth when he issued a one out walk to Mark Canha, before Laureano roped a double down the third base line. Canha appeared as if he was going to score on the play, but Marwin Gonzalez channeled his inner Yoenis Cespedes and gunned out Canha at home. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1146268900096651264 The Athletics were still able to bring a run home in the inning, as Robbie Grossman came through with a two-out RBI base knock, and just like that the Twins were back down 7 to 4. The Twins were able to get single runs back in both the sixth and seventh innings, to trim the lead back to one run. In the fifth Gonzalez scored from first on a two-out double from Luis Arraez, aided in part by a missed diving catch from A’s center fielder Ramon Laureano that allowed the ball to get to the wall. The start of the seventh was almost identical to the fifth, as Jason Castro led off the inning with another home run to straight away center field. https://twitter.com/MLBBarrelAlert/status/1146275808950067201 The A’s were able to extend the lead back up to two in the eighth when Mark Canha took Matt Magill deep, this time not giving Marwin Gonzalez a chance to throw him out at home, as the ball traveled about 50 feet over his head. Next up on our favorite game, Name that Former Twin, was Liam Hendriks who came in to shut the door on any hope of the Twins putting together a ninth inning rally. Hendriks picked up his third save of the season and improved his season ERA down to 1.35 (yes you read that right). Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Wed at OAK, 8:07 pm CT (Gibson-Fiers) Thu at OAK, 3:07 pm CT (Berrios-Anderson) Fri vs TEX, 7:10 pm CT (Simpson-TBD) Last Game CHW 4, MIN 3: Twins Lose Rubber Match to White Sox After Another Long Day of Baseball
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