White Sox's Liam Hendriks expected to return Monday after cancer treatment

ByABC7 Chicago Digital Team WLS logo
Sunday, May 28, 2023
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CHICAGO (WLS) -- The White Sox welcomed pitcher Liam Hendriks back in a social media video on Sunday.

Hendriks is expected to be activated on Memorial Day, which would mark his return from stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the official MLB website said. He posted a video with Monday's date, saying "See you soon, Southside."

Hendriks, 34, was diagnosed on Jan. 9 and completed his final round of chemotherapy April 5. He began a rehab assignment on May 5 at Triple-A Charlotte, where he posted a 10.80 ERA in six appearances.

The right-hander returned to Chicago on May 18, and was scheduled to throw live batting practice to teammates on that following Friday.

"When he throws [Friday], we'll wait and see the outcome, how he feels, what the numbers were [and] evaluate it really well," White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said at the time. "He's close, so now we've got to really do a good job of just evaluating him, how close he really is to being Liam Hendriks, not how close he is just to pitch here in the big leagues."

Hendriks recorded 75 saves over his first two seasons with the White Sox, making the All-Star team both years. His 38 saves in 2021 led the American League and he followed up with 37 last season.

Hendriks, a native of Australia, also was an All-Star in 2019 when he was a member of the Oakland Athletics.

In 471 career games (44 starts) for the Minnesota Twins (2011 to 2013), Kansas City Royals (2014), Toronto Blue Jays (2014-2015), Athletics (2016 to 2020) and White Sox, Hendriks has a career 3.81 ERA with a 31-34 record and 115 saves. He has 724 strikeouts against 158 walks across 645 innings.

ESPN contributed to this report.

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