Hendrickson's debut took 2 decades and an international odyssey to achieve

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WEST SACRAMENTO – Josh Hendrickson gave a smile and a wave towards a group of family and friends in the stands at T-Mobile Park while leaving the mound following his Major League debut Wednesday night. Among that group were his wife, Lizzie, and daughter, Hazel, which made the moment even more special for the 29-year-old left-handed pitcher.

As far as Major League debuts go, Hendrickson's path to the big leagues was more improbable than any of the previous eight players to make their debut for the Astros this year, and probably any other player in the Major Leagues in 2026.

Hendrickson relieved starter Ethan Pecko in the third inning of the 6-5 loss to the Mariners in Seattle and gave up one run, two hits and struck out three batters in two innings. He came into the game with runners on second and third with two outs and got Josh Naylor to ground out on a four-seam fastball up in the zone to end the threat.

"It was a whole lot of fun, and it was a pretty surreal experience to make a debut finally," Hendrickson said Thursday. "I always thought I had the ability to do it – just had to have the right chance, the right opportunity. I'm grateful for that. But it's a lot of fun. Had my family there as well, which was great."

Hendrickson's road to the Major Leagues started in Perth, Australia, where he was exposed to the sport in a physical education class in elementary school and fell in love with it. His father signed him and his brothers up to play Tee Ball, which they were still doing while most kids were in Little League.

"My dad said, 'This is ridiculous. What are we doing?'" Hendrickson said. "And he signed us up for Little League Baseball and just went from that. Really enjoyed it and stuck with it."

Hendrickson played for a club team in Australia, where one of his coaches had played at Galveston College, just south of Houston, and whose former roommate was the head coach at Ranger College, a junior college in Texas, and was visiting Australia. He wound up offering Hendrickson a scholarship, where he played in 2017.

"A lot of the national team coaches in Australia are also scouts, so they kind of kept an eye on me, and obviously I wasn't quite ready enough to sign at that point," Hendrickson said. "They put me in touch with some college coaches, and it was a couple of junior colleges, and that was just a way to keep playing baseball."

Hendrickson transferred to Barton County Junior College in Kansas in 2018, where he was 11-3 with a 2.52 ERA and 125 strikeouts in 16 starts, including five complete games. From there, he moved to Division I baseball at the University of San Diego, where he posted a 6.92 ERA in 39 innings across 10 starts in 2019. The Phillies took him in the 38th round of the MLB Draft that year.

"Once I got to college and there was some interest from scouts and potentially getting drafted, I think that was sort of the realization, like, 'Oh, this is a possibility,'" he said. "I knew it would take a lot of hard work to get there, but I felt like it was definitely a possibility once there was some interest from scouts."

After losing the 2020 season because of COVID, Hendrickson worked his way through the Phillies’ system before injuring his elbow in Spring Training 2022. He rehabbed and finished the year at Double-A and was released in November of 2023 while waiting to undergo Tommy John surgery.

Hendrickson spent time in independent ball in the United States, and a strong performance for the Adelaide Giants in the Australian Baseball League last year helped him earn a spot on Team Australia in the World Baseball Classic. He threw three innings of one-run ball on March 6 against the Czech Republic. He was at home in Kansas City when he signed a Minor League deal with the Astros in April, and he pitched the entire season at Triple-A Sugar Land.

So, you'll have to excuse Hendrickson if he was still smiling a day later thinking about this Major League debut. He certainly earned it.

"I feel like every debut is special no matter who it is," he said. "Whether it's a first-round pick, getting into the big leagues really quickly, or a journeyman Minor Leaguer that gets there after a long journey. So it's definitely special. It's something I don't think I'll forget."