Thursday marked the Opening Day for the 2025 MLB season, and the Boston Red Sox couldn't have asked for a better start to the year. The Red Sox marched into Globe Life Field before walking out with a 5-2 victory over the Texas Rangers, capitalizing on the sense of optimism stemming from a productive offseason.
As great as the season-opening win was, not every Red Sox player was present for the victory. Several Boston veterans are beginning the year on the injured list, including veteran reliever Liam Hendriks, who was placed on the 15-day IL earlier this week with right elbow inflammation.
While an early-season injury can be demoralizing for a player, Hendriks has made it clear that he won't let his banged-up elbow bring him down.
Red Sox RHP Liam Hendriks Feeling Optimistic Despite 15-Day IL Stint
On Thursday, Hendriks met with Dr. Keith Meister to discuss his elbow injury. Fortunately, the three-time All-Star righty appears to have dodged a major bullet, making it clear to The Athletic's Jen McCaffrey that he expected to make a full recovery.
"Obviously you run through the doubts and stuff like that, but the graph (from surgery) looks fine," Hendriks told McCaffrey. "It’s nothing permanent, nothing structurally wrong or anything like that. It’s just a little bit of soreness in there that was bugging me, especially on extension."
Liam Hendriks sounded optimistic about his elbow inflammation post-game.
— Jen McCaffrey (@jcmccaffrey) March 28, 2025
He got a cortisone shot and talked about next stepshttps://t.co/Jr8XwDHaPR
McCaffrey also indicated that the Red Sox hope to see Hendriks start pitching again during the start of the upcoming week. At the end of the day, the club views the situation as a minor setback as the 36-year-old Australian aims to play his first meaningful baseball game in nearly two seasons.
June 9, 2023, marks the last time that Hendriks played in a regular-season outing. The experienced hurler was placed on IL just two days after that before undergoing Tommy John surgery two months later. The Red Sox then signed Hendriks to a two-year, $10 million contract during the 2024 offseason, hoping that he'd look like his old self upon his return.
Unfortunately, Hendriks' spring training run wasn't what Boston had envisioned. The two-time AL Reliever of the Year pitched a putrid 9.95 ERA with seven earned runs and two homers allowed across 6 1/3 innings, effectively leading to Aroldis Chapman beating him out for the Red Sox's closing pitcher job.
Hopefully, Hendriks' recovery continues without setbacks so that he can join Boston's bullpen soon. It wasn't that long ago that he played to three All-Star appearances with two top-10 AL Cy Young finishes across a four-year stretch, which is the type of pitcher that could help turn the Red Sox's World Series aspirations into a reality.