The Chicago Cubs run to the World Series in 2016 was nothing short of amazing. The Cubs were able to end their 108-year drought of winning the World Series and it was thanks to a lot of key players.
Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javy Baez, Jon Lester, and Dexter Fowler are a few players that come to mind for that 2016 team. However, Kyle Hendricks played a massive part in the run to the Fall Classic.
After 11 years with Chicago, the Cubs decided not to bring Hendricks back. Instead, he hit the open market and the Los Angeles Angels signed him to a one-year, $2.5M deal.
Letting Hendricks go in free agency might have hurt the team a little bit, but it was the right move. The Cubs have an injured starting rotation at the moment, but Hendricks needed the change of scenery.
With his hometown team, the right-hander was able to reach a major milestone. In the Angels win Friday night over the Seattle Mariners, Hendricks recorded his 100th career win. He is just the 19th active pitcher to accomplish this feat.
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Congratulations to Kyle Hendricks on recording his 100th career win! pic.twitter.com/ltPIkkNQYL— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) June 7, 2025
Hendricks This Season With the Los Angeles Angels
The former eighth-round pick has not had a lot of success this year. He is 3-6 on the season with a 5.40 ERA in 12 games started. He has thrown 65.0 innings, allowed 66 hits, walked 20 batters, and struck out 41.
He was never a strikeout pitcher, but he did a great job keeping hitters off balance and off the barrel early in his career. That is not something that has been happening recently.
Per Baseball Savant, Hendricks is in the fourth percentile in strikeout rate, first percentile in whiff rate, and 36th percentile in barrel percentage. However, his opponent average exit velocity is very low, and he does not walk a whole bunch of batters.
Along with those numbers, Hendricks has an expected ERA (4.15) that is more than one full run lower than his actual ERA. He might be getting a little bit unlucky with hits dropping and runs scoring, so he is having a better season than his numbers suggest.
Hendricks With the Chicago Cubs
Hendricks spent 11 seasons at Wrigley Field, and he was an integral part of the World Series team.
With Chicago, the Professor had a 3.68 ERA in 1,580.1 innings pitched. He struck out 1,259 batters and walked 364, while throwing six complete games, including four shutouts.
In his time spent with the Cubs, Hendricks finished in the top 10 of National League Cy Young voting twice, and he had a third-place finish in the 2016 championship season.
100 wins in the MLB is no small feat, and the Professor reaching the milestone with his hometown team is special.
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