What’s always made Kyle Hendricks’ success so fascinating is his ability to do so without much velocity. His pinpoint command and devastating changeup helped make him one of the best pitchers in the game last summer. It’s rare to see someone live below 90 mph and still find so much success. When a pitcher is throwing at such low velocities, the margin for error grows thinner. And when that velocity dips ever further, that margin shrinks as well.
Three starts into the season, Hendricks’ margin for error has been razor thin. In his first start of the season, Hendricks averaged 86.