Rank History
| Year | Team | Position | Team Rank | OFP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | HOU | RHP | 36 | 30 |
Grades Update: Jan 2021
| OFP | Role | FB | CB | SL | CH | Cont/Cmd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 45 | 30 | 40/40 |
Jan 2021 Report
Evaluator: Geoff Pontes
Age: 24 yr
Height: 6-3
Weight: 190 lbs
Hits/Throws: R/R
Acquired: 2019 Draft, Round 7
RuleV: 2022
Physical Description: Tall, lanky and high waisted, slumped shoulders, lean frame with potential to add muscle in the coming years.
Delivery & Mechanics: Side step to elevated leg lift, stands upright on back leg before drive. Henley delivers the ball from a high three quarters arm slot, dropping and driving down. Strong leg block and repeatable mechanics.
Fastball: Below average pitch at 88-92 mph, with an East to West plan of attack. He cuts the pitch heavily which is responsible for plenty of inefficient spin. Has trouble locating it from the stretch and has to pitch aware from batters due to this. Will need to add velocity to fit into a pen role long term. Grade: 40
Curveball: High spin slurvy breaking ball in the 77-79 mph range. Henley's best pitch and a true swing and miss driving weapon. Shows good depth and late horizontal break. Henley's feel for the pitch is above his command of any other offering in his arsenal. Grade: 50
Slider: Tighter break than the curveball with lower raw spin. Pitch fits into the low-80s velocity band and he shows feel too locate on the edges of the zone. More horizontal break than the curveball with less drop. Clear third pitch but a usable offering. Grade: 45
Changeup: Poor quality pitch with limited feel. Will show confidence to throw early in the count and off the plate to lefties. Moderate armside run, but doesn't mimic fastball arm speed or movement. Not a factor. Grade: 30
Control and Command: Limited feel for fastball but strong command of breaking balls. Shows the ability to manipulate each breaker for the location of his target. That feel does not extend to his fastball or poor changeup. Misses with his fastball to his gloveside with regularity, with just limited feel for the armside of the plate. Did a good job of limiting walks in his pro debut leaving hope his control can get to average. Control: 45 | Command: 40
Overall: Pretty clearly a tweener profile that needs to supercharge his fastball. With below average to poor fastball velocity it really limits his potential opportunities as a pen arm. However, an added 2-3 MPH might be enough to get him into bullpen profile long term due to the quality of his breaking balls. His high-70s curveball is a weapon and a go to out pitch when Henley is in trouble. Up/down emergency depth at the moment, but another Astros draft pick with interesting characteristics.
OFP: 30
Role: 30 - Up/Down Emergency Depth
Risk: High
