For the Nationals, Howie Kendrick’s Resilience Says It All

But even though he was 34 and in his 18th professional season when he had surgery on the tendon, Kendrick vowed to teammates that he would return.

“I told them before I left, I said, ‘I’ll be ready for spring training,’” Kendrick said. “Some people were like, ‘Yeah, yeah, we’ll see.’ I wasn’t joking when I said that.”

Recovering from a serious leg injury is challenging enough at any age, but Kendrick was 35 when he entered spring training in February. Then he injured his left hamstring toward the end of camp, missing the beginning of the regular season, and went back on the injured list in August with another hamstring injury.

Despite that, he hit .344 this regular season, the highest batting average of his career. But because Martinez used him sparingly to preserve his body, Kendrick did not qualify for the batting title. Still, he has been outstanding in the postseason: In 10 playoff games so far, he has batted .289 with four doubles, the grand slam, nine runs batted in and two intentional walks to help the Nationals, who came into existence one year before Kendrick’s major league debut, reach their first World Series.

“All those failures, and even now my failures still help me be successful,” he said. “You appreciate it even more. This is definitely, truly special in a sense that I can appreciate where I came from to where I’m at now.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/18/sports/washington-nationals-howie-kendricks-.html?emc=rss&partner=rss