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BREAKING: Guess who Red Sox brought back into the team as Tyler O’Neill exits…
O’Neill had been reinstated from the injured list on Wednesday after recovering from inflammation in his right knee.
On the mound, Liam Hendriks has seen high highs and low lows in his 14-year MLB tenure. Off it, he’s battled through more than many of his peers. And, through all of it, the relief pitcher is still optimistic about his future with the Red Sox.
Hendriks is currently recovering from Tommy John surgery after suffering an injury shortly into his 2023 campaign. That put a damper on what was a remarkable return for Hendriks, who’d been diagnosed with Stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Dec. 2022.
After going through the unimaginable health scare at 33 years old, Hendriks returned to the MLB in late May of 2023. He was awarded the Jimmy V award for perseverance at that year’s ESPYs, but only appeared in five games in 2023 before suffering the devastating elbow injury.
This offseason, Boston inked a multi-year deal with Hendriks, who is in the middle of rehabilitation and won’t appear for the team for some time. He’s making good progress, though.
“It’s going well,” Hendriks said, appearing on NESN’s Friday broadcast of Red Sox-White Sox. “I’m in my de-load week this week, so nice and easy, play catch at 60 feet three times this week and start ramping up next week. Get on hopefully a full-size mound in a couple of weeks I think it is, and then go from there. “I’m encouraged by the fact that they are telling me I’m doing a good job and I’m ahead of schedule which is great.” Hendriks noted he’s throwing between 85 and 90 miles per hour right now.
At his best, Hendriks claimed fame as one of the league’s best relievers. He led the MLB in saves in 2021 (38), the year before his world turned upside down. That season, his ERA was 2.54, the third-lowest mark of his career.
Earlier in his career, as a starter, Hendriks didn’t see nearly as much success. His ERA hovered between 5.23 and 6.85 for the first five years of his career. A move to the bullpen helped get the righty back on track.
Red Sox’ Tyler O’Neill exits game vs. White Sox with right knee discomfort
Two days removed from coming off of the Red Sox’ injured list, Tyler O’Neill suffered another setback. The outfielder was removed from Friday’s game against the Chicago White Sox in the third inning after experiencing right knee discomfort. O’Neill told reporters postgame that he tweaked his knee after catching a fly ball in the second inning.
“Made a cut out there, getting that route direction, and it kind of tweaked on me there,” he said. “I was feeling pretty good pregame and stuff. Just tweaked it out in the outfield there. Didn’t feel too good, so the boys thought they’d take me out of there. Still don’t think the diagnosis has changed, nothing structural or any worry about that. Just a bit of a flare-up.”
Despite his recent injury struggles, O’Neill sounded fairly optimistic about his chances of staying off of the injured list and instead missing a couple of games.
“Hopefully give it some time, let it calm down a little bit. Really hoping it’s just a couple days here,” he said. “Avoiding the IL is definitely on the table. It’s something we’re gonna be shooting for. I don’t know what the next steps are gonna look like, but just wanna get it cleaned up as soon as possible. It’s not fun playing in pain.
Manager Alex Cora said he noticed O’Neill was limping in the second inning and wanted to keep him in the game to take another at-bat, but decided the issue was serious enough to take him out of the game.
He was also seen massaging his knee in the dugout before exiting.
“I feel like I was really close to getting through it, just based on how I was feeling earlier in the day,” O’Neill said. “So it really sucks, it’s really frustrating for me to kind of feel the way I’m feeling right now. But the boys aren’t too worried about it, so thankful for that. Hopefully it cleans up quick.”
