PITTSBURGH — Called High-A Palm Beach’s manager Gaylen Pitts the other day for another assignment and after running through a list of specific players in his lineup I asked who else has stood out.
“Tyler Henley,” he said. “Leadoff guy. He’s been a bit of everything for us.”
Fast forward to Wednesday morning and I’m checking out the box score of the Palm Beach Cardinals and sure enough, there was Henley, doing a big bit of one thing — against a major-league pitcher, no less. Henley, starting in right field, led off breakfast at Roger Dean Stadium with a home run off Tampa Bay lefty Scott Kazmir. The American League leader in strikeouts last season was throwing for Vero Beach in what’s supposed to be his penultimate stop of a rehab assignment [1].
This is the description of Henley’s hit from MLB.com:
His first pitch, an 88-mile-per-hour fastball, was belted down the right-field line for a home run by Palm Beach’s Tyler Henley, tying the game at 1.
Henley, 22, is starting his first full season of pro ball, though he’s been in the Cardinals crosshairs for several years. The lefthanded hitting outfielder was a draft eligible sophomore and the Cardinals considered picking him in the 2006 draft, farm director Jeff Luhnow said. The club talked to the Rice University sophomore – “It’s hard to convince some players to leave Rice,” Luhnow said — and came to the conclusion that they couldn’t sign him that summer. Houston did draft him. Had no luck signing him.
But the Cardinals decided to try again.
The Cardinals selected Henley with the 262nd overall pick in last summer’s draft, and after a while of negotiation signed him to a bonus above slot. That got him into the system for 20 games last year. He climbed to Low-A, though he hit just .156 in his quick spin through Quad Cities. Then this spring, the Cardinals did what they’ve done with so many minor leaguers this season.
Pushed him. Pushed him up a level. Promoted him aggressively.
(Yes, from Kyle McClellan to Clayton Mortensen it’s more than a coincidence, it’s a trend and it’s darn near a policy.)
Henley caught the Cardinals eye with his statistics. He’s one of the performance-discovered players, verified by a scout and then drafted. In every season at Rice, he hit better than .300 and had an on-base percentage at .415 or better. (Though that OBP was helped by at least 20 HBP each season, Brian Barton-style.) The power wasn’t expected, but it’s arrived anyway.
In 19 games this season, Henley has 25 hits — including three homers, five doubles and three triples for a batting line of .329/.402./.592. He’s been described as an ideal leadoff hitter — seven walks vs. nine strikeouts — and one who can offer that jab of gap power. Plus, he’s putting up those kind of numbers in a notoriously pitcher-friendly league after only 89 pro at-bat between Rice and Palm Beach.
“He’s only had this little playing time,” Luhnow said, “but you have to like what he’s done when given the opportunity to jump.”
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Outfielder Daryl Jones is expected to rejoin the Palm Beach team today. Jones has been on the disabled list after a collision in the outfielder left him dazed, Tommy Pham injured and Pham’s jersey sliced by Jones’ cleats. The injury halted what’s been the best start of his pro career — a .302 average and a .400 on-base percentage at a level higher than he’s ever been.
“Sometimes a sense of urgency clicks in,” Pitts said. “All of these other guys passing you up. Drafts happening every year. Seeing all that can get anyone to turn it up a notch.”
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Palm Beach is going with the piggyback rotation … for the moment.
A practice employed last season at the Cardinals’ Low-A affiliate and lower was using eight pitchers in a four-day rotation, with two pitchers paired off — Abbott & Costello, Batman & Robin, Penn & Teller, Ginger & Ale — and alternating starts. The purpose of the tandem rotation is to squeeze more starters into a rotation and stress the importance of pitch counts.
Palm Beach is implementing the piggyback this season, and so far they are pleased with its performance, Luhnow said. But at the end of the month the team will re-evaluate the tandem at a level that high. How the pitchers are performing will help determine whether the piggyback continues or if a more traditional five-man rotation is required to give five select pitchers the innings they’ve earned.
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Like, for example, Brandon Dickson.
The strict rules of the tandem rotation were in full effect a week ago when Dickson pitched five no-hit innings and then handed the ball to Tyler Herron, per policy. Herron did his part with three shutout innings, though he did give up two hits. Pitts said there wasn’t much of a conversation with Dickson after the fifth inning “because he knows the drill.”
But five no-hit innings is only the pitching line. The story is better.
Dickson was signed as a non-drafted free agent out of Tusculum College (Tenn.). He went 11-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 31 games last season for Quad Cities (23 games started). He was one of the pitchers who excelled in the piggyback rotation for the AFKA Swing. And last week, he excelled needing only two of his pitches — his four-seam and his two-seam fastball. He got through five no-hit innings with just 57 pitches.
“He’s got a good breaking ball,” Pitts said. “He just didn’t need it. He just didn’t need to throw it all. That was how good his sinker was. He was breaking bats with that two-seamer, he was setting them up with his four-seamer. He really didn’t need anything more, especially with a fastball is going like it was.”
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Over at Future Redbirds, author Erik Manning is attempting the Sisyphean [2]task of a mock draft [3], NFL-style. He’s got the Cardinals taking … well, let him tell you.
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And, finally, here’s a first for Bird Land: Scouting video. With the new technology here at the P-D blogs, it’s something we can do — and I will do as often as possible. Here’s a clip, of Jones (mentioned above) and other prospects:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z4hlZ7aXgNM" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
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