CHICAGO – Chicago White Sox closer Liam Hendriks has been named the 2021 Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year for the second straight season.
Hendriks, 32, is the first pitcher to earn the award in consecutive seasons following his win with Oakland in 2020. He also is the first White Sox pitcher to be named AL Reliever of the Year since the award began in 2014.
Hendriks went 8-3 with a 2.54 ERA (20 ER/71.0 IP), 38 saves (44 opportunities), 113 strikeouts, a 0.73 WHIP, .174 (45-258) opponents average and just seven walks in 69 relief appearances this season, his first with the White Sox. He joined Terry Forster (24 in 1974), Goose Gossage (26 in 1975) and Bobby Thigpen (57 in 1990) as the only Sox to lead the AL in saves. Hendriks led MLB relievers in strikeouts, and AL relievers in WHIP and strikeout-to-walk ratio (16.14).
Hendriks’ strikeout-to-walk mark established a major-league record (minimum 100 strikeouts), surpassing the previous mark set by Clayton Kershaw (15.64) in 2016. He joined Kenley Jansen in 2017 (109 strikeouts; seven walks) as the only pitchers in history to strike out 100-plus batters with seven or fewer walks in a season. Hendriks did not issue more than one walk in any appearance in 2021.
Hendriks was named to his second career All-Star team, was named AL Reliever of the Month in May and September/October and would become the fourth pitcher in franchise history to win the Cy Young Award. He ended the season with scoreless streaks of 15 games and 15.2 IP.