On a chilly day in Salt Lake City, lefty Josh Hendrickson walked into the clubhouse at The Ballpark at America First Square and began shaking hands and learning names of his new teammates. That included a conversation with then Space Cowboys catcher César Salazar, who introduced himself and immediately dove into what pitches Hendrickson threw. After all, he needed to know them – Hendrickson was starting for the Space Cowboys in just a few hours in game one of a doubleheader.
The pair obviously got on the same page quickly as Hendrickson hurled 5.0 shutout innings that day, allowing just one base runner on a hit while striking out six in a 2-1 Space Cowboys victory over the Salt Lake Bees. The lefty was so dominant that he was named the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week for his efforts, and perhaps lost in the wash was the fact that it was also Hendrickson’s first win at the Triple-A level. It was a whirlwind conclusion to a several year process for the Australian that saw him miss out on pitching in the World Baseball Classic, undergo surgery and pitch through the independent ranks to ultimately end up back at the precipice of pitching in the big leagues.
A native of Perth, Australia on the western coast, Hendrickson took to baseball while playing the sport in PE class in elementary school.
“It's not a mainstream sport in Australia, but it is growing, and it's becoming more popular slowly,” said Hendrickson. “I loved it, and my dad signed me and my brothers up, and by the time we got to about 10, 11, 12, my dad was like ‘This is a little bit ridiculous, still playing T-ball,’ so we transitioned to baseball, joined a little league team, and fell in love with the game, and just went from there and stuck with it.”
As he neared the end of high school, an old bond between teammates gave Hendrickson the chance to keep playing at the next level. One of the coaches of his club team had previously played at Galveston College, and a former roommate of his was the head coach at Ranger College and happened to come to Australia for a visit. He offered Hendrickson a scholarship to go to Ranger, Texas and continue his career.
“It was definitely a culture shock, going from Australia to Texas,” recalled Hendrickson. “I wasn't prepared for that one, let alone out in West Texas.”
The schedule of collegiate baseball was also an adjustment for the lefty who now found himself in the Lone Star State.
“College baseball's a lot different to Australia,” said Hendrickson. “I went to playing multiple times a week, practicing every day, versus playing once a week, and maybe one or two practices a week.”
After a season and a summer playing for the Portland Pickles, Hendrickson transferred to Barton County Junior College in Kansas where he went 11-3 with a 2.52 ERA in 16 starts, hurling five complete games over 96.1 innings. That earned him a chance to transfer one more time, this time back to a western coast with a beach – San Diego.
As a member of the Toreros in the Western Athletic Conference, Hendrickson made 12 appearances, 10 starts, but threw just 39.0 innings. He still attracted the attention of the Philadelphia Phillies, who selected him in the 38th round of the 2019 draft and sent him to Complex League with a late season promotion to Single-A in the South Atlantic League.
Following a lost season during the COVID-19 shutdown, Hendrickson pitched at three levels in the Phillies organization in 2021, primarily throwing with Double-A Reading while getting exactly one game at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. In 21 outings, he went 4-5 with a 3.57 ERA, hurling 95.0 innings with only 32 walks and 93 strikeouts, numbers that were good enough to garner a spot as an MiLB.com Organizational All-Star with Philadelphia.
Firmly established in the Phillies system, Hendrickson came back in 2022 looking to push his way to Triple A on a more permanent basis, but suffered a partial tear in his elbow late in Spring Training. He attempted to pitch through it, but went to the injured list on April 17 and didn’t go out on a rehab assignment until the beginning of August. Still, he finished the 2022 season healthy and once again pitching at Double A, making his final three appearances of the season with Reading.
During the winter of 2022, another opportunity emerged for Hendrickson; the chance to pitch for Team Australia in the World Baseball Classic in 2023. However, Hendrickson was unable to secure insurance for the World Baseball Classic, and as a result did not have a chance to make the final roster for Team Australia.
Undeterred, Hendrickson went back to work in the Minor Leagues, once again pitching primarily at Double A as he made 21 of his 24 outings in Reading. However, as the season progressed, something wasn’t right for Hendrickson, and towards the end of the season, he started to have numbness in his pitching hand. Ultimately it was determined that he would need UCL reconstructive surgery, commonly referred to as ‘Tommy John,’ eliminating his 2024 season. Worse yet, he was released by the Phillies in November of 2023 while he was waiting to have surgery. Left without an organization, Hendrickson underwent surgery and then attacked his rehab trying to work his way back to the mound, relocating to Palm Beach Gardens in Florida to train at Cressey Sports Performance, rehabbing and throwing six days a week.
An opportunity presented itself in the independent ranks as Hendrickson was offered a contract with the Kansas City Monarchs of the American Association. With Kansas City, Hendrickson turned in an eye-opening campaign, going 10-5 with a 3.61 ERA in 19 starts, hurling 104.2 innings with 116 punchouts, good for sixth in the league.
When Kansas City was eliminated from the postseason, he was traded to the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League for a player to be named later. He made one appearance with the Rockers in the regular season, spinning 5.0 no-hit innings with five strikeouts. After the playoffs concluded for High Point, in a true ‘only in baseball’ moment, Hendrickson was traded back to Kansas City as the player to be named later from his initial movement to High Point.
Healthy again, he was approached by Team Australia to potentially pitch in the World Baseball Classic coming up in 2026. To continue his ramp up and get some extra innings, Hendrickson returned to Australia on Christmas Day and joined the Adelaide Giants in the Australian Baseball League. He made three appearances in the regular season before being handed the ball to start Game 3 of the Championship Series against Sydney, ultimately allowing just two runs over 5.2 innings to help Adelaide win the ABL Title. His performance sealed his spot on the Australian National Team, the realization of a dream put on hold three years earlier and an experience Hendrickson will not forget in his lifetime.
“It's surreal, it really is,” recounted Hendrickson. “It was just a lot of fun being with a bunch of guys I that grew up with or looked up to growing up. Or a bunch of young guys younger than me, like [Guardians first-round pick] Travis Bazaana, that I'd never met before. Coming together under the Team Australia logo, and being able to play for our country, play for everyone back home who supported us growing up as kids, you know, the guys that came before us to put that program in that spot, and to be able to keep going about things the right way, and leave everything in a good spot for the next group of guys that will come through.”
Hendrickson got to start on March 6 against the Czech Republic and received the win after going 3.0 frames and allowing just one run in a 5-1 Australia victory. Unfortunately for him, Team Australia was knocked out by another Space Cowboys’ player as Shay Whitcomb helped Team Korea to a 7-2 win over the Australians that eliminated them from the tournament.
Once the World Baseball Classic concluded, Hendrickson returned to Kansas City, where he resides with his wife, and continued to stay ready. There were some negotiations for him to pitch in Taiwan, but with the likes of Colton Gordon, Spencer Arrighetti and Peter Lambert all being recalled within a span of three days, the Astros needed starting pitching and wanted Hendrickson to fill the void.
“It was honestly a lot of excitement to be back in affiliated baseball,” said Hendrickson. “But at the same time it was trusting the preparation that I'd done, even though I hadn't been to a spring training, hadn't been with a team, hadn't faced hitters in a while, but trusting the preparation, going about my routine normally, meeting a lot of new faces, learning a lot of new names, and just going out there and having fun playing the game of baseball.”