Boston Red Sox pitcher Liam Hendriks calls out fans wishing death threats on him

Having passionate fans is a great thing. Having fans that cross the line when they interact with players isn’t, and dealing with those fans is a challenge that Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Liam Hendriks is currently dealing with.

The veteran pitcher took to Instagram on Thursday, calling out those so-called fans for threatening his life and his wife’s life. On top of that, he called out fans for wishing harm upon him and called for them to look at their own lives.

“Threats against my life and my wife’s life are horrible and cruel,” Hendriks wrote. “You need help. Leaving comments telling me to commit suicide and how you wish I had died from cancer is disgusting and vile.”

Liam Hendriks is now receiving death threats pic.twitter.com/DZk4XNFZ54

— Shawn (@PalmerDesigns_) May 22, 2025

In his career, Hendriks has been known as an inspirational player. After making MLB as an Australian, a rare feat, he has gone on to become a player who is known for his charitable work. That includes work with Big League Impact and Striking Out Poverty. For that, he’s been nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award six times. On top of all of that, he was diagnosed with cancer in January of 2023. He’d battle back from that to once again pitch on a major league mound.

“Maybe you should take a step back and reevaluate your life’s purpose before hiding behind a screen attacking players and their families,” Hendriks continued. “Whether you do it from your ‘fake accounts’ or are dumb enough to do it from a real account. I think I speak for all players who have to deal with this in their career when I say: Enough is enough.”

Hendriks came to Boston ahead of the 2024 season. At the time, he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. He’d return to action in 2025 and has had some mixed results so far. However, he struggled in Boston’s Wednesday night game, giving up three hits and three runs while taking the loss. For the 2025 season, he now has a 5.56 ERA in 11.1 innings pitched. That’s well above his career ERA of 3.85.

The poor performance on Wednesday came on the same day reports surfaced that he has been frustrated with his usage this season. He argued that some of his struggles have come from not pitching enough and not being able to be himself consistently. For manager Alex Cora‘s part, he agreed and took the blame for not using him enough.

These comments to Liam Hendriks come in the same year that Netflix released its documentary, The Clubhouse: A Year with the Red Sox. In it, star outfielder Jarren Duran detailed the anxiety he has felt trying to deal with fans and his own suicide attempt. Duran would have to be held back from a fan in Cleveland when they heckled him about the ordeal.

All of this is coming in what has been a frustrating season overall for the Red Sox. Boston is currently 25-26 and in third place in the AL East. That’s despite preseason expectations that this would be a playoff team for the first time since 2021.