Cubs veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks has never had the stuff to blow hitters away. Even his rookie season, when he was throwing the hardest he has in his career, his four-seamer averaged 91.2 mph.
“He gets a lot of outs, he’s done it for a long time,” Cubs rookie Hayden Wesneski said. “So, I’ve got to figure out what I’ve got to do to get to his spot.”
Command and execution have been Hendricks’ most important weapons throughout his career, a skillset Wesneski was focussed on sharpening when he was down in Triple-A for two weeks.
Hendricks has shown them in spurts in his two starts back from a shoulder injury that sidelined him for almost 11 months.
“Felt much more like myself from the start,” Hendricks said of his start Tuesday, compared to his last. “Had a much better game playing going in, felt much more comfortable out there in general.”
Though he issued three walks to the Rays, he limited MLB’s best offense (136 wRC+ entering Tuesday) to one run through five innings.
For the first time, Hendricks and Wesneski were on the Cubs’ active roster together. Hendricks hurt his shoulder even before the Cubs acquired Wesneski from the Yankees at the trade deadline last year, and months before he made his MLB debut. Then this year, the Cubs optioned Wesneski to Triple-A before Hendricks wrapped up his rehab assignment in Iowa.
On Tuesday, the Cubs recalled Wesneski and optioned reliever Michael Rucker.
“We’re trying to get the most talented pitchers we can down there,” Ross said of the bullpen. “Stretching Rucker out consistently lately, him sucking down some innings for us, was, one, awesome — but just giving him a little bit of a break.”
Rucker threw two or more innings in each of his last three appearances but also allowed eight runs in that time.
The Cubs see Wesneski, whose 93-mph fastball and sweeping slider are the most-used pitches in his arsenal, as a starter in the long run. But he’s come out of the bullpen before, both in the minors and in his first two major-league outings last year. Wesneski expects this stint in the bullpen to be less scripted.
“This could help me out long term,” said Wesneski, who has been working to trim his pregame start day routine. “I know, this sounds funny, like, ‘Hey, this could help you start.’ It actually does translate. You can start cutting stuff down and figure out, ‘I actually don’t need this, this and this. Why have I have been doing this for the last year?’”
Routine is something Wesneski has asked Hendricks about. He said he’s asked why the veteran right-hander does certain things and how he structures his bullpen sessions.
Wesneski has also absorbed lessons from a sequencing perspective by watching Hendricks.
“More the ‘why’ is where I pick his brain,” Wesneski said. “Like, ‘Hey, why did you throw that pitch?’ ‘Oh, this guy swings like this, and so it matches well.’”
Wesneski had a different view Tuesday, watching from the bullpen.
Hendricks didn’t throw harder than 88.5 mph, but he didn’t have to. He allowed five hits, all singles. He stuck to his strengths, establishing his fastball early and then leaning on his changeup. He said he didn’t have a good feel for his curveball, which is why he didn’t throw many, but that’s something he’ll work on locking in before his next start.
“I don’t have to really try and be anything different, is what it tells me,” Hendricks said.