One ‘wild' stat that illustrates Kyle Hendricks' ridiculous control

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In a previous piece of mine, I took a look to find Cubs who were the only players in the Majors in 2018 to accomplish something.

Kyle Hendricks was the only pitcher in the Majors in 2018 to toss at least 160 innings without throwing a wild pitch. In 2017, he didn’t throw one either; he was one of only four pitchers in the Majors to toss at least 100 innings without throwing a wild pitch. 

His last wild pitch came on Sept. 5, 2016, in the bottom of the 6th inning at Miller Park. The batter was Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who hasn’t appeared in a MLB game since July 29, 2017. In any event, one pitch after uncorking that uncharacteristic wild one, he got the strikeout and was done for the day.

He threw 374 more pitches to finish the 2016 regular season and 379 more in the 2016 postseason; none wild. Then came the 2017 regular season, where 2,276 pitches were projected plateward, yet still no wild pitches. Tack on 269 more in the 2017 postseason. This brings us to the 2018 regular season: 3,051 pitches, and I sense you notice a pattern here. No wild pitches. He even made 24 more deliveries in the 2018 Wild Card game. As you may have guessed, no wild pitches.

That puts The Professor’s current active streak at 6,374 pitches without letting one get away.

From Sept. 6, 2016 to the present day (including postseason), a total of 764 pitchers have made at least one wild pitch. None of those people are named Kyle Christian Hendricks. 

Over the aforementioned span, two pitchers — Zack Godley and Jake Arrieta — are tied for the MLB lead with 32 pitches gone astray.

Looking only at the 70 games in which Kyle Hendricks has appeared since his last wild pitch:

—Hendricks has seen more wild pitches while batting (1) than he has made himself on the mound (0)
—Other Cubs pitchers have combined for 20 wild pitches; Opposing pitchers have had 30 (that makes 50 total!)
—Three pitchers have made three wild pitches in a game: Roberto Osuna (8/20/2017), Lucas Giolito (5/13/2018) & Junior Guerra (8/15/2018)

It has been quite a run. Who knows how long it will continue. 

As for Hendricks’ streak of 10,182 straight pitches since his last balk…

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