Chicago Cubs: Stop making Kyle Hendricks the next Maddux

It’s easier for us to judge who Greg Maddux was since he is retired, but we still don’t know who Kyle Hendricks is or what he will become.

The sample size of Hendricks is still pretty small since he only has four seasons under his belt.  Similar to a lot of 2017 Cubs, he is having a down year from last year.

That could be because he played an extra month of baseball, which shouldn’t be taken for granted.  Or it could also be because he has battled some injuries, again which might have been caused by fatigue.

This year “The Professor” has a 3.22 ERA, a 4.13 FIP, and a WHIP of 1.181.  That isn’t the front of the rotation stuff we saw last year.

Could he be regressing to the mean or is this just a down year?  Nobody knows, but we have to be willing to consider 2015 might have been his max potential.

There’s also a question of dominance.  Maddux was dominant.  Hendricks hasn’t ever been dominant.

He’s not the kind of guy that can go out there and pitch a two-hit complete game on any given night.  Maddux also threw a lot more innings than Hendricks.

Last year, Hendricks threw 190 innings, his career high.  Maddux pitched 268 innings in 1992!  That just goes to show the difference in the eras as well.