31The supplied provider record identifies the correct athlete: Liam Johnson Hendriks, an Australian right-handed MLB relief pitcher from Perth, Western Australia. Two provider fields require correction as at 18 August 2026: his verified date of birth is 10 February 1989, not 2 October 1989; and he was no longer with Boston after the 2025 season. MLB records show he became a free agent on 4 November 2025, signed a minor-league contract with Minnesota on 12 February 2026, was released on 20 March 2…
Liam Johnson Hendriks is an Australian right-handed relief pitcher born in Perth, Western Australia, and educated at Sacred Heart College. He also played Australian rules football as a junior and was eligible to be drafted by the West Coast Eagles under the father–son rule because his father, Geoff, played for West Perth in the WAFL. Hendriks pursued baseball, developed through the Minnesota Twins system and made his MLB debut on 6 September 2011. Initially used as a starter, he gradually established himself as a high-leverage reliever and closer. After early MLB spells with Minnesota, Kansas City and Toronto, he rebuilt his career with Oakland, where he became an elite late-inning arm. He later joined the Chicago White Sox, earned three American League All-Star selections and became a prominent closer. Hendriks was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in December 2022, announced remission in April 2023 and returned to MLB with Chicago in May 2023. He underwent right-elbow Tommy John surgery on 2 August 2023, then signed with Boston before returning to the majors on 19 April 2025. His 2025 Red Sox season was interrupted by right-hip inflammation and subsequent forearm soreness. After free agency, he signed minor-league deals with Minnesota and Chicago in 2026 but was released by Iowa on 16 July 2026. His defining professional identity is that of an outspoken, durable, high-intensity reliever and closer, although his recent career has been shaped by cancer treatment and elbow rehabilitation.
Hendriks' major professional breakthrough came with the Oakland Athletics in 2016–17, when he transitioned decisively from starting to relief pitching and became a dependable late-inning option. His first MLB All-Star selection followed in 2019, after he had become Oakland's closer.
Verified MLB regular-season career totals through 2025: 490 games, 33–36 win–loss record, 3.88 ERA, 663.2 innings, 739 strikeouts, 116 saves and a 1.20 WHIP. Hendriks was a three-time American League All-Star, a two-time Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year and a two-time All-MLB First-Team selection. He also won the 2023 American League Comeback Player of the Year Award.
His most defining moments include becoming Oakland's closer and an All-Star in 2019; recording consecutive elite seasons that earned the 2020 and 2021 American League Reliever of the Year awards; returning to the White Sox in May 2023 after cancer treatment; winning the 2023 American League Comeback Player of the Year Award; and returning to MLB for Boston on 19 April 2025, 680 days after his previous major-league appearance.