Orioles pitcher Liam Hendriks has had an interesting offseason. During a 10-day stretch in December, Hendriks went from the Twins to the Cubs to the Orioles through a pair of waiver transactions.
Hendriks called the ordeal "a little strange," but he's eager to get his Baltimore career started and improve on what has been a rocky MLB tenure. Hendriks, who was once one of the Twins' top pitching prospects, is 2-13 with a 6.06 ERA and 1.59 WHIP in 30 career MLB appearances (28 starts).
"I think it’s just really feeling comfortable," Hendriks said, per The Baltimore Sun. "I went through a couple phases when I was up in the big leagues with the Twins, and I wasn’t quite feeling comfortable. My last two outings last year, I really started feeling comfortable. I started throwing harder, and I started being able to locate my pitches a little bit more, and I think it was more about lengthening my stride a little bit.
"That definitely helped, and I think it’s going to help my lower body as well. Just by lengthening it a bit, I felt like there wasn’t strain towards the end. So just coming into camp and lengthening my stride out, and try to make sure that everything is flowing and I start feeling comfortable on the mound. When I’m comfortable, I feel like I can pretty much put the ball where I want to."