and/or in the wrong spot, but be baffled by a Hendricks 85-miler if it’s moving toward where he wants it.

Seaver was close to the end of his career; Hendricks is closer to the beginning of his.

But the principle is the same: Hendricks’ pitches move and he locates them where and how he wants to, in and out, up and down, faster and slower.

Hendricks looks effortless doing it. Instead of taking a machete to the mound with him, he takes a scalpel.

It’s beautiful to watch unless you’re an opposing batter.

“He made not many mistakes in the middle of the plate,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted Cardinals manager Mike Matheny as saying after Hendricks’ latest gem.

Jhonny Peralta, a 14-year veteran, added that Hendricks is a “smart pitcher.”

But the most telling remark came from Cardinals pitcher Mike Leake.

The seven-year veteran said of the Cubs’ third-year pitcher, “He’s a guy myself and others can learn from.”

Smart? Well, Hendricks did play his college ball in the Ivy League and earn an economics degree from Dartmouth.

But countless intelligent pitchers lost a lot of major-league games and countless ignorant pitchers won a lot of major-league games.

Hendricks, an eighth-round draft choice by Texas in 2011, just happens to maximize his fat IQ and slender body.

Kyle Hendricks has become so fascinating that it might be as much fun to watch him overpower a finance final as to watch him finesse a big-league lineup.

mimrem@dailyherald.com