Success #9: Liam Hendriks

 

I had written off the guys I sent balls to in Fort Myers. I sent baseballs to top Twins prospects Miguel Sano, Joe Benson, and Liam Hendriks when I learned they were among many that had shown up early to Spring Training workouts. I called the stadium later and spoke with a man that informed me that the Twins actually take over the mailing department during Spring Training and that the chance of the players seeing my item in a timely manner was pretty slim.

I literally crossed all three off of my "pending" list.

Then the mail came on Friday. I had two packages. Both through-the-mail successes. The first one I opened was a baseball signed by Australian pitcher Liam Hendriks.

Liam Hendriks came out of nowhere last year to impress in the Twins minor league system. He began the year at AA New Britain where he boasted a 2.70 ERA in 15 starts, prompting a promotion to AAA Rochester where he started 9 games and saw his ERA rise to 4.56. That didn't stop the Twins from calling him up near the end of last season to help the injury-plagued rotation. He started 4 games at the MLB level and only two resulted in decisions, both losses. His MLB ERA was 6.17. 

Kyle Gibson has been the guy to pay attention to in the last few seasons but after an elbow injury ended his 2011 season, Hendriks picked up the torch and ran with it. Hendriks was chosen to pitch in the 2011 Futures All Star game. All serious Twins followers have Hendriks ranked among the club's current top 10 prospects. Many even have Hendriks as high as the top 5 or just shy of it. Some prospects get promoted based on tools and potential. Others come out of nowhere to impress due to persistence and hard work. That's Hendriks. 

He has loads of potential and could possibly break onto the scene in a 2012 season where expectations are rather low for the team. There's not much room on the staff as of now, but once the season gets going, injury prone players like Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn, and Francisco Liriano as well as veterans like Carl Pavano and Jason Marquis may need to be bumped and Hendriks should be waiting in the wings.

Hendriks marks my first through the mail success of a player on the Twins current roster. He also marks my longest success (17 days).

Mailed: 2/7/12

Received: 2/24/12 (17 days)