FORT MYERS, Fla. — Liam Hendriks’ reasoning for signing with the Twins was multilayered.
First, and most importantly, there are spots in the bullpen up for grabs. The veteran reliever has an opportunity to pitch himself into an important role on the Twins’ roster if he can remain healthy and resemble the player who was once one of the best relievers in baseball.
Second, he began his career in Minnesota, meaning he has a certain comfort level with the organization. Though his former teammates have since moved on or retired, Hendricks still has familiarity with many staff members.
And third, he has a place in Fort Myers, Fla., which meant he didn’t have to pay “an arm and a leg” for rent during spring training.
Oh, and there was one other benefit.
“I was finally able to get No. 31 with the Twins, which has eluded me for many years,” he said.
That number has special significance to Hendriks, who first signed with the Twins as a teenager in 2007 and made his debut in 2011 as the 31st Australian to play in the big leagues.
The reliever, now 37, signed another deal with the Twins this week — a minor-league contract — after an offseason spent rehabbing from an elbow surgery and training at Cressey Sports Performance. Hendriks, now a 14-year veteran, is trying to make a comeback after throwing fewer than 19 major league innings combined over the past three seasons.
A number of health issues have kept him off the mound, starting with a stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis after the 2022 season. He made an emotional return in 2023 after his cancer went into remission, but that season was cut short by an elbow injury that necessitated Tommy John surgery.
Hendriks missed all of the 2024 season while rehabbing, then last year dealt with hip and elbow injuries — again requiring surgery on the elbow. This time Hendriks had a nerve issue and lost feeling in three of the fingers on his right hand. He underwent an ulnar nerve transposition with posterior interosseous nerve release in late September.
It took three to four months, he said, for feeling to return to all of his fingers, but now, he’s feeling good and looking to return to form. Hendriks was among the best closers in the game as recently as 2022, a year in which he recorded 37 saves and returned to the All-Star Game for the third time.
“I still look at it from the point of view (of) I haven’t really come back since cancer,” he said. “Since that, yeah, I came back a little bit last year, but I still wasn’t in a good spot.”
Spending the offseason worked at Cressey Sports Performance in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.,, he said, helped him train not just his body but his mind, as well.
“This offseason I really took an onus to take better care of myself,” he said. “After I had the Tommy John surgery in 2023, I was kind of stubborn and kept on my old workout program, which was nothing.”
Hendriks has now thrown six bullpens. His fourth was a showcase in late January, where the Twins watched him pitch. Because he is coming back from a surgery, he has decided to forgo pitching for Australia in the World Baseball Classic, at least initially.
Australia begins tournament play in Tokyo and should it advance, it would then play in Miami. Hendriks, who is part of the country’s designated pitchers pool, could potentially join the team then. And while he said it was a tough decision to make, with an arm that “hasn’t been tested,” he had to prioritize his opportunity with the Twins and winning a job at camp.
“There’s something kind of cyclical about it, starting my career here, coming back now and hoping to restart my career after three kind of lost years,” Hendriks said.
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