Everybody knows that the Chicago Cubs have an absolutely loaded minor league system. In fact, at this point it would almost seem foolish for anybody to say that they do not have the best collection of prospects in the entire game.
Offensive stars like Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Javier Baez, Arismendy Alcantara and Jorge Soler dominate the prospect headlines and top 50 lists, but there is an under-the-radar pitcher who is tearing things up at the major league level, and is proving to be an important part of the future of the organization as well. This man’s name is Kyle Hendricks.
Hendricks is a 24-year-old right-handed pitcher who was acquired by the Cubs in the mid-season Ryan Dempster trade with the Texas Rangers in 2012. Hendricks’ pure “stuff” is not as exciting as most successful pitchers, but he does an incredible job of using movement on his pitches and command to get batters out.
In 2013, Hendricks was able to keep both Double-A and Triple-A batters off balance all season long. Between the two leagues, Hendricks went 13-4 and posted a 2.00 ERA. He hardly walked anybody (1.8 walks per nine innings) and was very successful at keeping the ball in the ballpark (0.3 homeruns per nine). His impressive 2013 season put him squarely on the radar as he was named the Cubs’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
The start of the 2014 season was a mix bag of results for Hendricks. However, when the rotation spots opened up after an early July trade that sent Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to the Oakland Athletics, the Cubs decided to give Hendricks a chance. Clearly, he has been up to the challenge.
He gave up three runs in his first inning of big league action, but after that Hendricks really settled down and pitched a solid ballgame. In that first start against the Cincinnati Reds, Hendricks went six innings while allowing four earned runs, five hits and three walks. He struck out seven batters.
The Cubs all but assured Hendricks a full-time spot in the rotation after the All-Star break. The team clearly wants to see what they have in the young pitcher, and so far, Hendricks is proving his worth at the top level of competition.
In his second start, Hendricks pitched seven shutout innings against the San Diego Padres, striking out five batters and picking up his first career win.
On Sunday, Hendricks made his next start, one where he picked up his first career big league loss. While Hendricks did get tagged with the loss, it was through no fault of his own. He gave up a first inning run to the St. Louis Cardinals on a solo homerun by Matt Holliday, but after that he shut the Cardinals down for a strong six inning performance. Unfortunately, the Cubs’ offense was not able to held Hendricks out, as he was on the wrong side of the 1-0 loss.
Through three starts, Hendricks has an impressive 2.33 ERA. While he is walking a few more batters than the Cubs would like to see (2.8 per nine), Hendricks is doing a great job of keeping opposing hitters off balance through movement, changing speeds and great command.
While his upside may be limited to that of a number three starter, Hendricks now seems like a fair bet to at least be a solid back of the rotation pitcher. Those kind of players are certainly valuable to a team, and with few rotation options as it is, Hendricks will certainly prove to be important for the Cubs both now, and in the future.
MLB.com released their top-20 prospect lists by team on Sunday, and Hendricks came in at number 18 for the Cubs. That just proves to the strength of the system as a whole. The Cubs have plenty of future stars around him, Hendricks just needs to go out and do his job in a supporting role. So far, he looks more than capable to be able to do that.