A's Liam Hendriks has backup plan if baseball doesn't work out … NFL punter

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You could sometimes spot Liam Hendriks kicking the football around before a game or practice -- it's a way for him to get the blood flowing. So, if this baseball thing doesn't work out?

"I've got my backup plan," Hendriks told MLB Network's Jon Paul Morosi. "NFL."

You're probably thinking -- oh, football and a pitcher, definitely a quarterback, right?

Wrong. 

"I can't throw a football to save my life," he said. "I'm out on that. But I can kick one pretty decently."

Ahhh -- so a punter it is.

When you're casually kicking the football around with Raiders punter Marquette King, and putting a couple of footballs past him, I could see why he has that much confidence to turn that into a career. 

But don't worry A's fans, he's not going anywhere anytime soon.

“I’m not going to leave baseball until my arm falls off,” he said.

And if that doesn't pan out -- he has a third plan: To introduce the knuckleball into his pitching repertoire.

"The next plan is to pull the [R.A.] Dickey and start throwing the knuckleball,” he said.

Morosi got the deets on if he's attempted this before. Hendriks once tried the pitch in the Dominican.

“I hit the guy. The next pitch was a fastball, and the guy hit a homer. Haven’t thrown it in a game since, but I have hit people in the chest with them just missing it [while playing catch], so it’s decent.”

[RELATED: 2019 Projections: Hendriks will succeed in variety of roles]

All right. So that didn't exactly work.

We all can't be Dickey -- or Mickey Jannis

 

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