Chicago Cubs: Up, down, and all around for Kyle Hendricks in 2018

As the Chicago Cubs dealt with a bevy of injury troubles to their team, Kyle Hendricks found himself uneven through most of the season. Avoiding injury, he still came around to provide a strong finish down the stretch.

Entering his fifth big league season, right-hander Kyle Hendricks turned in another quality body of work. This stood out given the overall uncertainty and inconsistency we saw from most of the Chicago Cubs starting rotation.

‘The Professor’ got off to a respectable start, posting quality starts in three of the first five games he pitched. However, as the season progressed, Hendricks saw his production teeter on the edge between quality and subpar.

That being said, as the season moved to its final stages, Hendricks once again picked up the pace of his starting pitching, firing quality starts in six of his last eight games he graced the bump.

At the end of it all, Hendricks finished 14-11, 3.44 ERA in a career-high 33 starts. He finished with a career-best in innings pitched, and finished with a 3.2 WAR, which is Hendricks’ third-best finish in his five years in the big leagues.

Chicago Cubs: An inconspicuous beginning

Hendricks’ 2018 campaign got off to a strong start, as he posted a quality start in his season debut, finishing with six innings pitched, one earned run and five strikeouts. Unfortunately, it bore to be the game which went a painstaking 18 innings, before the Cubs fell 2-1 to the Miami Marlins on Opening Weekend.

It, however, would not be a testament for how the rest of the month would go. While Hendricks finished with a more than respectable 3.36 ERA throughout his next ten outings, the inconsistency caught up through April and May.

More from Cubbies Crib

• Cubs: It’s time to start thinking about potential September call-ups
• Cubs: P.J. Higgins deserves to be in the lineup on a daily basis
• Cubs might start to limit Justin Steele’s workload soon
• Cubs: Adrian Sampson is forcing his way into the conversation
• Projecting the Chicago Cubs bullpen to open the 2023 season

Hendricks struck out 18.9 percent of hitters he faced and walked a measly 4.4 percent. Unfortunately, the consistency was discovered in his below-average 4.54 FIP and near below-average 3.83 xFIP. His struggles came in giving up home runs, as he contributed to a 1.6 HR/9 over that stretch. To put this in perspective, Hendricks carries a career 0.86 HR/9.

The strikeouts decreased, as well, dropping to just 6.9 K/9. Hendricks has a career 21.0 percent strikeout rate or an overall K/9 of 7.62. Almost an entire strikeout per nine less in 2018 did Hendricks no favors.

Lastly, pitch velocity increased in a minor way, while Hendricks pitch selection changed. He moved more away from his fastball, throwing his off-speed pitches at a higher rate. That being said, Hendricks was still finding a way to produce.

Chicago Cubs: Making the finish count

For as up-and-down as Hendricks was across all of 2018, he still finished in the top thirty for starting pitchers in all of Major League Baseball. Hendricks also even posted a very respectable 3.44 ERA and a near 20 percent strikeout rate, falling just shy at 19.8 percent.

The final month of the season was easily Hendricks’ best. He finished with quality starts in six of his eight last games, with a prodigious 1.66 ERA, 2.79 FIP, and an average against of just .216. Hendricks won five of those nine games across that stretch. Giving up only two home runs as well, the former Cy Young finalist harnessed his old self once more, helping the team down the stretch.

What we all must remember through the lens of Kyle Hendricks is that despite the rocky nature of his season, he still produced at a relatively high rate of success. This guy is also still in his prime, meaning a huge bounce-back season could very well be on the horizon. For that, Cubs fans should get excited for Hendricks in 2019.