Hendriks, Foster lead resurgent bullpen

The Chicago White Sox have been on a real roll lately, winning three straight and four of their last five after a 4-3 win at Wrigley Field on Wednesday night.

Liam Hendriks, Kendall Graveman, Matt Foster, Aaron Bummer and the White Sox bullpen have been a huge reason for the great turnaround by the South Siders. Which begs the question: Do the White Sox have the best bullpen in all of baseball? During the ballclub’s recent hot streak, the pen has gone 16 ²⁄₃ innings with a 1.62 ERA.

Hendriks had some troubles, like much of the team, during the cold streak. He has regained his dominance since then, going four scoreless innings with three saves and just one walk against five strikeouts in four appearances.

Meanwhile, Foster has pitched 2 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings and came up huge two nights in a row against the Cubs, during the eighth inning.

Foster, after struggling during much of last season and being sent to the minors several times, appears to have regained the dominant form he had in his rookie season of 2020.

Foster in fact finds himself among the American League leaders in several categories, including fifth in relief ERA.

Several other Sox relievers such as Graveman, Bummer and even José Ruiz are among the league leaders in holds, so while it hasn’t been easy, the White Sox bullpen has come through several times for the team.

The scary part for opposing teams, and what makes Foster’s resurgence even more important for the White Sox, is that offseason acquisition Joe Kelly hasn’t even taken the mound yet. You add that to the dominant performance so far, what was already a scary-good back end of the bullpen will be even better once Kelly returns.