Former Perth Heat pitcher Liam Hendriks has been called up to play in the Major Leagues for the Kansas City Royals.
Hendriks will pitch in tonight's game against his former club, the Minnesota Twins, in game 6 of the their seven game series, in which the Royals have won three.
Right-hander Hendriks, has been recalled from the Royals Triple A affiliate Omaha to replace rookie Yordano Ventura.
"He throws strikes," Royals manager Ned Yost said of Hendriks on the Royals website. "They like him, they like his stuff."
Since the Twins designated him for assignment in early December, Hendriks has bounced to four organisations (Orioles, Cubs, Blue Jays and Royals). He has gone 12-2 with a 2.45 earned-run average in 143.33 combined innings at Triple-A for Omaha and Buffalo.
He's also had 126 strikeouts against a mere 13 walks. His 2.33 ERA at Buffalo still leads the International League.
Hendriks also won one of his three starts in the majors for Toronto, leaving him 13-2 overall.
"It's going to be interesting. It could be really good or really bad," Hendriks said on kansascity.royals.mlb.com.
"But I'm going to go out there and pitch the same way I have been. The way I've been pitching this year, I wasn't pitching that way last year with them.
"So hopefully, it will catch them off guard a little bit and I can get ahead, and put us in a winning position."
The game will be played Thursday morning Australian time.
Hendriks, 25, last pitched for the Heat in the 2009-10 season, playing eight games.
