NEWSLETTER
If you don’t know by now, I (Matt) am a White Sox fan. Sorry, all you Cubs fans reading this. Now there are two of us (Patrick and I watch each other’s back). But I don’t care what side of town you’re from, or which team you root for, it’s so cool seeing Liam Hendriks back on the mound, throwing like his old self after beating cancer. That’s where we’ll start our trip around the league today.
Liam Hendriks Is BACK!
Over the offseason, Liam Hendriks was diagnosed with Stage Four Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. But on April 5, following five months of chemotherapy, Hendriks announced he officially beat cancer. And less than two months after that, he’s his same old self, striking out hitters and getting fired up in the White Sox bullpen. I’d understand if this meant more to me than it does to you, but it is seriously just so great to see Liam happy, healthy, and back in baseball!
And succeeding!
On Sunday, Hendriks picked up his first win of the season. And although he has yet to get a save opportunity, he did come into the 9th inning of a tied 2-2 ballgame (so it was hardly low leverage). Naturally, he struck out two in a perfect inning, before the White Sox walked off the Tigers on a Jake Burger grand slam.
Stephen Strasburg Shut Down…Again
While we got a feel-good story on the South Side yesterday, we got some really disappointing news out of Washington. It looks like Stephen Strasburg suffered yet another setback in his rehab due to “severe nerve damage.” Strasburg reportedly tried ramping up his rehab multiple times this winter, but each time continued to feel right-side discomfort. Unfortunately, it’s starting to feel like we may have seen the last of Stephen Strasburg in the MLB.
Strasburg was dominant on his way to a World Series MVP in 2019. Shortly after, he signed a 7-year, $245 million contract extension. Since that point, he’s made just eight appearances on the mound for the Nats due to nerve pain in his throwing arm. He still has three years left on his contract. To make matters worse for Washington, they didn’t get injury insurance on Strasburg’s deal thanks to “incredibly high premiums” due to the ace’s former injury history.
Hopefully, something changes down the line for Strasburg. The lasting memory for me at least will always be his dominant postseason in 2019, but it’s a real shame that that’s the last we really got to see of one of the most dominant arms in the game at its best.
Who could forget his MLB debut? Just utter dominance in one of the most anticipated debuts ever.
How, Aaron Judge … HOW?
Jayson Stark had a fun piece in The Athletic catching us up on things we’ve learned through the first 60 games of the baseball season. There were quite a few takeaways, but the most eye-opening to me was how good Aaron Judge’s follow-up campaign to his record-setting season last year has been (Michael: Same, I knew he’d been hitting well, but I didn’t realize it was going THIS well).
Judge finished last season with 62 home runs, 111 RBI, a .686 slugging percentage, and a 1.111 OPS. He’s played 49 games this season and has 19 home runs, 40 RBI, a .676 slugging percentage, and a 1.078 OPS. Through 49 games last season, he had 19 home runs, 39 RBI, a .660 slugging percentage, and a 1.034 OPS. So given where he was at this point in 2022, Judge is trending better in all categories except for home runs where he’s equal.
With a slugging percentage of .676, Judge is on pace to join some elite company in that category as well. If Judge finishes this season with a slugging percentage higher than .670, he’ll join just Mark McGwire, Todd Helton, Albert Belle, and Barry Bonds as the only players in the last 75 years to finish back-to-back seasons with a slugging percentage of .670 or higher. McGwire, Belle, and Helton achieved the feat once, while Bonds amazingly went FIVE straight seasons from 2000-2005 with a .670 slugging percentage or better.
Stark went into a lot more than just Judge though. For example … (1) Shocker, Bruce Bochy is still a really good manager. (2) We have A LOT of big names who are struggling badly this season. Oh, and (3) several MLB executives had no idea how this year’s trade deadline is going to go. Brett covered that part separately right here. It’s a really great read if you haven’t made your way over yet.
