MLB pitcher Kyle Hendricks retires at age 35

Kyle Hendricks (Arturo Pardavila III, Wikimedia Commons)

According to Rogers Sportsnet on Monday, former Major League Baseball starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks of Newport Beach, California has retired at the age of 35. Hendricks played 12 seasons of Major League Baseball from 2014 to 2025. He was with the Chicago Cubs for 11 seasons from 2014 to 2024, and then last season with the Los Angeles Angels.

In 307 games played, Hendricks had a record of 105 wins and 91 losses with an earned run average of 3.79. During 1745 innings pitched, he gave up 1668 hits, 734 earned runs, 209 home runs, and 407 walks, with 1373 strikeouts, six complete games, four shutouts, and a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 1.28.

Hendricks’s most notable Major League Baseball season came in 2016. That year he led the Major Leagues with a 2.13 earned run average, was third in National League Cy Young voting, and most impressively guided the Cubs to their first World Series title since 1908.

In the 2016 World Series, the Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in seven games. Hendricks pitched nine innings during the series, and gave up 10 hits, one earned run and three walks, to go along with eight strikeouts. He had an earned run average of 1.00 and a WHIP of 1.44.

Hendricks was initially drafted in the eighth round, 264th overall, by the Texas Rangers in the 2011 MLB Draft. He sparkled that season with the Spokane Indians of the Northwest League. It would not take long for the Cubs to take notice as they acquired Hendricks from the Rangers with third baseman Christian Villanueva of Guadalajara, Mexico for Canadian pitcher Ryan Dempster of Gibsons, British Columbia on July 31, 2012.