Sox's Hendriks turns to tarot card reader for pick-me-up
A day after blowing a save in the White Sox's 4-3 loss to the Royals in 10 innings at Guaranteed Rate Field, struggling closer Liam Hendriks went back to his happy place.
On Monday, he spoke with his tarot card reader and holistic healer - Rubi Rios.
"She gave me a couple things," Hendriks said. "I was already leaning toward those sort of things but hearing that kind of confirmed from a different source who has never seen me wrong in the past is pretty nice to hear. Certain things you stop worrying about, living up to expectations."
Signed to a three-year, $54 million contract in January after posting the lowest combined ERA (1.79) in the major leagues the past two seasons, Hendriks has given up 3 runs on 4 hits (2 homers) in his first 3.1 innings with the Sox.
Three years ago, when he was pitching for Class AAA Nashville after being demoted by the Athletics, Hendriks connected with Rios.
"It all started from my wife (Kristi) in 2018," he said. "My wife reached out to Rubi. She wasn't expecting a response and she got a response straight away. So we did a reading. And then we went through some things. She told me I needed to make a change with certain things with my agent. We ended up changing agencies. A week later, I was in the big leagues.
"One month later, I was starting the wild-card game. We have been using her kind of manifesting everything ever since. We spent Thanksgiving with her last year, two years ago. They were over for Christmas and stuff like this. They are now part of our family. And that is the one thing that has helped us throughout everything."
Hendriks said he usually talks to Rios before the season starts, but he felt the need for another session Monday.
"She has no idea about baseball," Hendriks said. "She keeps calling it the mount instead of the mound. So it's a whole thing, like that's the best part about it. She's not a baseball fan that's giving me information that she thinks is right. She has no idea about the game. She's telling me purely from an emotional and a physical standpoint of where she can kind of feel and see the difference of the way I'm talking about things and the way I describe things."
Anderson update:
Manager Tony La Russa said shortstop Tim Anderson (strained left hamstring) was "letting it out" in running drills Monday and he expects him to come off the injury list on time Thursday afternoon and play against Cleveland.
Slow start:
He's already hit 2 grand slams in the young season, but White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu was batting .216 heading into Monday's play and riding a 5-for-29 (.172) slump while stranding 16 runners over his last seven games.
"I think it's part of the season, part of baseball," Abreu said through a translator. "I think throughout my eight years in the majors, I haven't gotten off to a really hot start. I think it's just who I am as a baseball player. I'm going to keep getting better. You know me, I'm going to keep working hard. I'm not concerned about my offense right now."