ATLANTA – Kyle Hendricks has joined the Detroit Tigers.
The 36-year-old never player for the Tigers in his 12-year MLB career, but he has been hired by the Tigers as a special assistant in the front office through his relationships with president of baseball operations Scott Harris and general manager Jeff Greenberg.
Not only does Hendricks have a bachelor’s degree in economics from Dartmouth College, but he also logged 1,745 innings over 307 games (301 starts) as a pitcher in the big leagues after completing his Ivy League education.
The Tigers have five special assistants in the front office.
The other four are Tigers legends: Kirk Gibson, Jim Leyland, Alan Trammell and Miguel Cabrera.
Hendricks pitched for the Chicago Cubs (2014-24) and the Los Angeles Angels (2025) in his 12-year MLB career, announcing his retirement in November 2025. He developed relationships with Harris and Greenberg while they were all with the Cubs.
Harris worked for the Cubs from 2012-19; Greenberg worked for the Cubs from 2011-21.
During his MLB career, Hendricks registered a 3.79 ERA – including a 2.13 ERA across 190 innings in 31 games (30 starts) in a career-best 2016 season as the Cubs won the World Series.
His fastballs (both his two-seamer and four-seamer) averaged just 87.2 mph throughout his 1,745 innings.
He relied on precision over power as a pitcher.
In 2016, Hendricks led MLB with the lowest ERA, but he finished third in National League Cy Young voting, trailing right-hander Max Scherzer (winner) and left-hander Jon Lester (runner-up). That year, Hendricks and Lester were teammates with the Cubs.
The Texas Rangers selected Hendricks in the eighth around of the 2011 draft from Dartmouth College. The Rangers traded him (with third baseman Christian Villanueva) to the Cubs for right-hander Ryan Dempster in July 2012.
That’s when he joined Harris and Greenberg with the Cubs.
It ultimately led to a role with the Tigers.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers hire Kyle Hendricks as special assistant in front office
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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