MIAMI ¨C Former top pitching prospect Cole Henry pitched a scoreless inning in his Major League debut Sunday in the Nationals¡¯ 11-4 loss to the Marlins at loanDepot park.
Washington called up Henry, its second-round pick out of LSU in the 2020 Draft, to fill the void created when it placed reliever Orlando Ribalta on the 15-day IL Sunday with a right biceps strain. Henry struck out two and allowed one hit.
¡°He'll give us some length out of the bullpen, which is great,¡± Nationals manager Dave Martinez said.
Wearing No. 99, Henry entered in the eighth inning, allowing one of two inherited runners to score and striking out Matt Mervis swinging and Javier Sanoja looking.
¡°He threw the ball really well,¡± Martinez said. ¡°I mean, that was awesome to see.¡±
Henry left tickets for 15 friends and family members who traveled from Alabama for the game, but he suspected even more arrived in Miami to see his debut.
¡°Obviously, it was awesome,¡± Henry said. ¡°Had a lot of people here today, made a quick trip down on very short notice. So that meant everything to me, just having everybody here, my family; those are people that I wouldn't be here without.¡±
The right-handed Henry, 25, had been ranked as high as No. 3 on the Nationals¡¯ MLB Pipeline prospect list before injuries slowed his career, causing him to drop from the rankings.
Henry underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in 2022.
When healthy, Henry has been effective. Though his Minor League record is only 4¨C9, his 3.25 ERA and 11.2 strikeouts per 9 innings suggest he has pitched better than his record indicates. Opposing hitters are batting only .190 against Henry.
A starter most of his career, Henry was moved to the bullpen during Spring Training this year. He's expected to fill a long relief role for the Nationals.
¡°I'm loving it so far,¡± Henry said of his move to the bullpen. ¡°It's a little bit different, obviously, but it's really fun. I like pitching whenever the game's on the line, I feel like those are the most important innings of the game.¡±
Henry struck out four in two innings, allowing one hit, for Triple-A Rochester this year. He didn't allow a run in three Major League Spring Training appearances, striking out nine in 4 2/3 innings.
¡°We always knew that he's got a really good fastball, really good slider, and good changeup,¡± Martinez said. ¡°We'll get him out of the bullpen. Him bouncing back the way he did has really been exciting to me. Possibly the role that he's in now, he can really help us.¡±
Ribalta, the Nationals¡¯ No. 29 prospect, made four appearances this season. In his most recent outing last Tuesday, he allowed one run on three hits and one walk in three innings against the Dodgers. His IL stint is backdated to Thursday.
Martinez said Ribalta first experienced the issue while throwing a few days earlier.
¡°My biggest thing is to make sure that there's really nothing else going on, we get him healthy and when he comes back we have no issues for the rest of the year,¡± Martinez said.
Henry joined the Nationals on Sunday. Ribalta will return to Washington for treatment.