Rank History
| Year | Team | Position | Team Rank | OFP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | CLE | LHP | 26 | 45 |
Grades Update: Nov 2020
| OFP | Role | FB | CT | CB | CH | Ctr/Cmd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45 | 40 | 55 | 40 | 50 | 45 | 45/40 |
Nov 2020 Report
Evaluator: Justin Lada
Age: 24 yr
Height: 6-6
Weight: 245 lbs
Hits/Throws: L/L
Acquired: 2014 Draft - Round 4
RuleV: On 40-man
Physical Description: Sturdy, durable build. Tall with long arms and legs. Physical presence on the mound. Build for a pitcher, especially a left-hander, is ideal and enticing as a starter. Has maintained build while adding to his projectable frame when he was drafted. Filled out body now. Tommy John Surgery 7/15/17.
Delivery & Mechanics: Works third base side of the rubber. Slight front leg step forwards third to start into his rock and fire and chest-high leg kick. Average body control and gets into his lower half well. Has a long arm swing and gets arm into motion a little earlier than ideal before getting shoulders square to the plate. Three quarters arm slot. Tall frame and arm slot allows him to drive the ball down. Maintains sizeable leg kick from the stretch that can be easy to run on for a left-handers.
Fastball: Sat 92-95 in 2019 in-game action but reports from 2020 action had it up to 96-98 and even touching 100. Gets good plane on the pitch thanks to his height and release point. Commands better to glove side than arm side. Hittable if left over the plate. Grade: 55
Cutter: 86-88. Inconsistent shape. Sometimes appears as if it's a slider that lacks depth. Below-average command. Throws inside to left handers to keep them off the fastball and to have another offering aside from his changeup. Newer offering developing in 2018. Still needs reps to tighten late cut. Grade: 40
Curveball: 76-78 2-7 shape with good, late break. Can get a bit too loose at times and lose its shape. Good arm angle and direction with the pitch. Average raw spring and command. Enough to profile as potentially an average offering with improvement. Grade: 50
Changeup: 83-85. Has solid velocity separation from his fastball. Inconsistent arm speed to sell the pitch. Modest fade on the pitch. Lacks sink and command of the pitch to be an effective third offering Grade: 45
Control and Command: Spots the fastball better than any of his pitchers. More comfortable to his glove side than arm side, maybe due to his arm angle and the plane of the fastball. Does not have the same command for any of his other offerings. Fluid enough mechanically for his size to have better control and command than he's had. Needs to improve consistency in the shape of cutter and curveball in order to have full command. Misses up in the zone, which is good for his fastball but less than ideal for secondaries. Control: 45 | Command: 40
Overall: Hentges' body is everything you'd want in a starter, especially in a left handed starter. The reported increased velocity makes the profile even more enticing, even if is in a bullpen role. The potential is there for a good FB/CB power reliever where he wouldn't need to improve his command by a lot to be effective. Even though his mechanics are somewhat sound for a pitcher his size, his arm swing is long and he hasn't shown the command to be a starter long term. If he takes any steps forward with his command, he can profile as a back of the rotation starter. It's hard to bump his fastball grade on 2020 reports with a lack of video and context. But the ability to hit the upper 90s with his fastball from his size and left side suggests there could be a leverage bullpen role in his profile long term.
OFP: 45
Role: 40 - Spot Starter/ Low Leverage Reliever
Risk: High
