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College  | Story  | 3/30/2019

College Notes: March 29

Vincent Cervino     
Photo: Tommy Henry (Michigan Athletics)

College Player Database


Players covered: Tommy Henry (Michigan), Mason Erla (Michigan State), Ryan Jensen (Fresno State), Carter Bins (Fresno State), Casey Schmitt (San Diego State), Aaron Eden (San Diego State).




Tommy Henry, Michigan
Perhaps the biggest draft riser amongst collegiate arms through the first month-plus of the season, Michigan's Tommy Henry has been extremely good thus far. Following his win over Michigan State, Henry sits at 6-1 on the season with a 0.76 ERA and 0.74 WHIP over 47 2/3 innings. He's allowed only seven walks total, opposing hitters are hitting just .167 against him and he's racked up 57 strikeouts along the way as well. 

Still long and lean, Henry has noticeably filled out his frame during his time in Ann Arbor, and while still somewhat projectable, the strength gains are indeed substantial. He has always had a solid enough mechanical profile, but the command and stuff have taken big steps forward this spring, which has directly equated to his rising draft stock. Henry was good, not great, in his start against Michigan State, but it's a testament to just how good he is that he allowed two runs over eight innings in what was potentially his worst start of the year. 

He works from the first base side of the rubber and has some uniqueness to his delivery, given the deep tilt back over the rubber he has. He rides his backside downhill well and gets his hips inline well, though he does land ever-so-slightly open-toed. The arm stroke has length to it but there's no violence there and the arm does work pretty well throughout. He gets up to a high three-quarters slot and does a good job creating downhill plane to the plate, extending well over his front side through release. 

The fastball sat 91-92 mph to start, settling into more of the 88-91 mph range for the duration of the game. The pitch features above average life to the arm side at times, though this isn't necessarily consistent, and while Henry's overall command was fringy in this one, he shows the ability to spot up his fastball to all four quadrants of the strike zone. There's some velocity projection remaining as well, potentially, and scouts haven't been afraid of projecting on the velocity at all. 

The slider is throw in the low-80s, mostly in the 80-83 mph range, and it's somewhat a unique pitch given the high slot. The pitch's action is late and sharp and he tunnels it well out of the hand, showing the ability to give it more two-plane shape to land it for strikes as well as feel for sharpening up, turning it into more of a pure downer, and getting swings-and-misses over the top of it. His changeup was his least-used pitch in this outing, though it too flashed above average at 84 mph with good arm speed and fading action. 

The totality of the profile here is a strong one, and his rise up draft boards is no mistake. A projectable lefthanded starter who doesn't walk anyone, misses bats and shows flashes of three above average (or better) pitches usually doesn't wait around too long when the draft comes around, and Henry is comfortably in the top couple rounds right now, with the chance to sneak into the first round if he keeps performing. It would be especially interesting to compare Henry with San Diego Padre Eric Lauer, a first rounder out of Kent State a few years ago who is already in the Padres rotation. Henry's breaking ball is better than Lauer's ever was as an amateur, but there are similarities in the size/physicality/pitchability of Henry now as compared to the version of Lauer that was as dominant as anyone in college baseball when he was at Kent State. Lauer went 25th overall in the 2016 draft and Henry could very easily see his name called in the same range come June.


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