Liam Hendriks

February 10, 1989 — Perth, Australia

Liam Hendriks is an Australian professional baseball pitcher who rose from a journeyman starter to one of Major League Baseball's most dominant closers. Over a career spent with the Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox, and Boston Red Sox, he earned three All-Star selections and back-to-back American League Reliever of the Year honors in 2020 and 2021. His remarkable return from a cancer diagnosis to win the 2023 AL Comeback Player of the Year Award made him one of the sport's most inspiring figures.

Early Life and Path to the Majors

Liam Johnson Hendriks was born on February 10, 1989, in Perth, Western Australia. He grew up playing baseball in a country where the sport is far less prominent than cricket or rugby, honing his skills through Australia's developing baseball programs before catching the attention of American scouts. In 2007, the Minnesota Twins signed Hendriks as an international free agent, and he spent several years working his way through the club's minor league system as a starting pitcher. He made his Major League Baseball debut with the Twins in 2011, showing promise but struggling to establish himself consistently in a starting rotation role. Over the next several seasons, Hendriks bounced between the majors and minors, and was traded to the Chicago White Sox organization before later joining the Kansas City Royals and Toronto Blue Jays. These early years were marked by inconsistency, and Hendriks was often viewed as a fringe roster player rather than a future star. It was not until he signed with the Oakland Athletics in 2016 and transitioned to a bullpen role that his career trajectory began to change dramatically, setting the stage for his emergence as an elite reliever.

Becoming an Elite Closer

With the Oakland Athletics, Hendriks reinvented himself as a shutdown relief pitcher, refining his fastball command and developing into the team's closer by 2019, the year he earned his first All-Star selection. His breakout continued during the shortened 2020 season, when he posted a sub-2.00 ERA and was named the American League's Reliever of the Year, establishing himself as one of the game's most feared closers. Hendriks signed a lucrative free-agent contract with the Chicago White Sox before the 2021 season and immediately delivered, earning a second consecutive Reliever of the Year award along with another All-Star nod. He became known for his fiery competitiveness on the mound, his high-velocity fastball, and his colorful personality, which made him a fan favorite. Hendriks continued to anchor Chicago's bullpen through 2022, when a Tommy John surgery in August ended his season and threatened to derail his career. His resilience, however, proved to be one of his defining traits, as he began an intense rehabilitation process aimed at returning to the mound for the White Sox in 2023.

Cancer Battle, Comeback, and Legacy

In April 2023, while rehabbing from surgery, Hendriks was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer that forced him to pause his baseball career entirely for chemotherapy treatment. Remarkably, after completing treatment, he returned to pitch for the White Sox in September 2023, an achievement that earned him the American League's Comeback Player of the Year Award for that season and drew widespread admiration across the sport. Hendriks and his wife, Kristi, became outspoken advocates for cancer awareness and support for patients, using his platform to inspire others facing similar diagnoses. He later signed with the Boston Red Sox, though further injury setbacks limited his time on the mound, and he remains a free agent as of 2026. Beyond his statistics, Hendriks's legacy is defined by perseverance: a pitcher who transformed himself from an overlooked starter into a championship-caliber closer, then fought back from a life-threatening illness to pitch again at the highest level. As one of the most accomplished Australian-born players in MLB history, he has helped raise the profile of baseball in Australia while embodying resilience both on and off the field.