After Fearing His Season Might Be Over, Athletics Hendriks Can't Wait to Pitch
Liam Hendriks thought for a moment that his season might be over.
Last weekend he and the rest of the baseball world learned that the Oakland A’s had had a member of their traveling party, later identified as pitcher Daniel Mengden, had tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus. Just like that, the Oakland season hit the pause button.
For Hendriks, it was particularly gruesome. Hendriks came into the season as one of the high-risk players because of an autoimmune liver condition. All players are running a risk by playing. For high-risk players, they take it up a level.
”Yeah, I did initially when the test first came out,” Hendriks said when asked if he’d thought his season might be over in a video conference call Friday. “It was one of those things of, well, we’re stuck in Houston for the night, and I would have had to talk to my wife and say, `Look, if there are a few guys in the bullpen that test positive, I don’t know how comfortable I am continuing on.’
“That was a conversation, luckily, that we never had to have. But it’s; one of those things if there was a slew of positive case, then that was something I’d definitely have to consider. Luckily, it never came to fruition.”
The A’s, who were sidelined for the final game to the series in Houston last Sunday and for three games in Seattle, have not had a second positive test. There has been self-quarantine and contact testing, and finally the team is ready to play again even as Mengden remains in a two-week quarantine in his home in Houston.
As the A’s return to the field Friday night against the Padres at the Coliseum at 6:40 p.m., Hendriks is itching to get into a game. He didn’t pitch in either game of the A’s doubleheader in Houston last Saturday, the only day in the last eight on which the A’s have played.
“It’s been a long time for me not to play,” he said. “It’s been stressful. It’s been daunting. It’s been a roller coaster of emotions and I’m just happy that we have gotten through that stage as a team. It showed that we have been doing the right things on the field. If there were a rash of positive cases, it would definitely have made me consider not moving forward with the season.”
As luck would have it, Hendriks chose this season to carry around a sock ball, a training device that enable him to simulate his throwing motion and release of the ball in his hotel room.
“I realized last year that days after and off-day I tend to be a little less than crisp,” Hendriks said. “I actually got (the sock ball) from Kyle Gibson, who’s with the Rangers down. I was able to use it throughout quarantine and I was able to use it on the off-days and was lucky enough that I travel with it at all times, just in case.”
Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3
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