Versatile Hendriks makes most of fresh start as ‘opener’

BALTIMORE >> Nobody saw this coming.

With the A’s looking for ways to take as much stress off the starters as possible, reliever Liam Hendriks finds himself at the center of the A’s new “bullpenning” strategy by opening games in their first three attempts.

This is the same pitcher who battled through injuries early in the season before being designated for assignment June 25 after building up a 7.36 ERA over 13 appearances.

Back then, Hendriks was topping out around 91 mph on his fastball, which could work for a pitcher who mixes in various off-speed pitches well. But the fastball is Hendriks’ primary pitch, and he wasn’t fooling any big league hitters.

This was the fifth time in his eight-year major league career Hendriks had been designated for assignment. At 29, Hendriks decided to take a risk after he went unclaimed in June and was assigned to the A’s Triple-A affiliate in Nashville.

“I just went down there and said if I’m gonna experiment, I’ve got nothing to lose right now,” Hendriks said.

After spending some time in the video room, Hendriks noticed he was slower on the uptake of his delivery and wasn’t getting as much drive on his pitches as he had done in the past.

Feeling fine physically, Hendriks figured it was a mechanical issue, so he started a new routine which included playing more long toss, to build up strength in his arm. A couple of weeks into his minor league stint, Hendriks had upped his fastball velocity to about 97 mph.

“The ball had a little more life and as it kept going it was gaining velocity,” Hendriks said. “I pitched a lot down there and had a pretty consistent role. Just getting into that groove and being around stuff where I can do my own thing and get back to what got me here in the first place.”

Hendriks was a new

man with Nashville, pitching late in games and going 4-1 with a 2.84 ERA in 23 appearances. His strikeout numbers were eye-opening: 43 with only four walks over 25 1/3 innings.

Staying in the majors is always the preferable option, but Hendriks thinks the demotion might have been a blessing in disguise.

“I think it was a necessary step for me to get back to where I was. I don’t know where I’d be now if I didn’t have that,” Hendriks said. “It’s a lot easier to go down there and change some things.

“There was never a chance where I didn’t envision myself with a big league team in September, but I couldn’t have told you if it was gonna be this team or another team. But I knew I was good enough to pitch anywhere. Luckily I’m here and hopefully we can make this worth it.”

As for why Hendriks was the one tabbed to serve as the A’s “opener” to start the first inning of games a few times per week, there are some theories. It could be the added velocity. It could be that Hendriks was a starter earlier in his career with the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals. It could just be that Hendriks is not among the dominant four relievers A’s manager Bob Melvin likes to save for the end of games.

“I’m just thankful for innings right now,” he said. “Just trying to pitch as much as I can and get everything going in the right direction and prove to these guys that I can do it.”

Hendriks has performed well in the new role, turning in a scoreless first inning in each of his first three “opening” sessions. He also pitched a high-leverage situation in Saturday’s win over the Rangers, tossing a scoreless sixth.

It’s been difficult for Hendriks to get used to opening games. Sometimes he finds out a couple of days in advance that he will be starting, while other times it’s on that same day.

“Nothing for me really changes, I just go out about 10 minutes earlier and get on a mound,” Hendriks said. “It’s still a little weird getting out there on a fresh mound with no one having touched it yet, but we’ve had pretty decent success with it. It’ll be interesting to see us keep going with it.”

With no official starter listed for Wednesday’s game in Baltimore, Hendriks is likely to open the game against the Orioles again for a fourth time.

In a close playoff race Hendriks might be counted on in multiple roles.

“You want guys to be able to pitch in different roles,” A’s pitching coach Scott Emerson said. “As much as we love giving guys routines, the guys that can have the awareness that their routine may not happen all the time, those are the guys that are really strong in this game.”