DENVER — Edgardo Henriquez has a present. He can throw a baseball quicker than all however just a few people in historical past.
But he prefers to think about it as one thing he and God created collectively, not one thing that was simply given to him.
“We’ve labored for that,” mentioned Henriquez, who continuously makes use of the plural pronoun when speaking about himself. “All of the work, the trouble, the physics. And God’s reward, most of all.”
Wherever the lightning in his proper arm got here from, he’s making good use of it. Of the 83 pitches he’s thrown this season coming into Wednesday’s recreation, 28 have topped 101 miles per hour. The quickest hit 103.3 on the radar gun final Saturday, making it the hardest-thrown pitch by a Dodger since Statcast started monitoring velocity in 2015 and sure the quickest pitch in franchise historical past.
Henriquez, 23, shrugs and smiles on the numbers.
“Now we now have to remain constant,” he mentioned in Spanish. “Even rising up in Venezuela, I all the time threw onerous.”
What he didn’t do in Venezuela was pitch as a result of when he signed as a 16-year-old in 2018, Henriquez was a catcher. The Dodgers moved him to the opposite facet of the plate a 12 months later, after they bought him to their Dominican academy.
The method was not a clean one. The suitable-hander allowed 22 runs in 30 innings in his first season then, after sitting out the summer season of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, he got here to the U.S. a 12 months later and went 2-3 with a 4.93 ERA in 13 video games cut up between the Arizona Complicated League and Single A Rancho Cucamonga.
The Dodgers projected him as a starter however after Henriquez missed the 2023 season to Tommy John surgical procedure, he got here again throwing gasoline and the staff moved him to the bullpen. The outcomes had been spectacular, with Henriquez climbing 4 ranges, from Low A Rancho Cucamonga to the majors, in six months to make his big-league debut within the closing week of the common season.
And he introduced his presence with authority, topping 101 mph twice to earn the save in his third recreation.
Henriquez grew up in Cumaná, a historic seaside metropolis of about half one million folks wedged between the Manzanares Rivers and Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, 250 miles east of Caracas. The oldest continuously-inhabited Spanish settlement in South America, it has been the birthplace and poets and presidents. However baseball gamers? Not a lot.
Pitcher Armando Galarraga, who was robbed of an ideal recreation by an umpire’s name in 2010, might be one of the best recognized of Cumaná’s big-leagues whereas Maracay, on the opposite finish of the nation, has produced greater than two dozen gamers, amongst them all-stars Bobby Abreu, Miguel Cabrera and Elvis Andrus.
“Maracay, sure. They are saying that’s the birthplace of baseball in Venezuela,” Henriquez mentioned. “However the reality is it’s Cumaná.”
Henriquez took to the sport at an early age, taking part in on native fields and sandlots. And since he was among the many largest of the neighborhood children, he was put behind the plate. The Dodgers appreciated his measurement — he appears a lot larger than the 6-foot-4 and 200 kilos he’s credited with on the roster — and arm so that they supplied him $80,000 to signal as a world free agent with the intention of constructing him a pitcher.
Earlier than the elbow-reconstruction surgical procedure, Henriquez touched 101 mph with this fastball however he got here again throwing even tougher, averaging 99 mph and reaching 104 within the minors final summer season. That earned him a September promotion and a spot on the roster for the Dodgers’ first two postseason sequence.
He was additionally in line for a spot on the opening day roster this season earlier than a metatarsal damage in his left foot landed him in a strolling boot, sidelining him for many of spring coaching.
Neither the Dodgers nor Henriquez will speak about how the damage occurred.
“I’d relatively maintain that to myself,” the pitcher mentioned this week.
But that setback proved simply one other impediment for Henriquez to beat, and after placing out 36 batters in 23 2/3 innings for Triple A Oklahoma Metropolis, he was summoned again to the Dodgers a month in the past.
In some methods, he was a unique pitcher.
“He appears way more assured,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “I feel he was assured final 12 months, however there was like a pretend confidence, understandably. He is aware of his stuff performs right here, so it’s good to see.”
His record-setting pitch got here in his sixth of seven scoreless appearances when he struck out pinch-hitter Ryan O’Hearn out on a four-seam fastball within the seventh inning of a win over the San Diego Padres.
His dad and mom, Edgar and Erika, the place visiting from Venezuela and within the stands at Dodger Stadium for the pitch to O’Hearn, one which has generated lots of consideration on social media. Because of this Roberts mentioned pitching coach Mark Prior and bullpen coach Josh Bard are ensuring Henriquez understands there’s extra to pitching that simply lighting up the radar gun.
Pretty much as good because the four-seamer is, nonetheless, it might not be Henriquez’s finest pitch. His cutter, which sits within the mid-90s, will be all however unhitable and he additionally has a devastating slider. He’ll want each little bit of that repertoire to achieve the majors, mentioned Chris Forbes, the senior director of participant improvement for the Colorado Rockies, as a result of the variety of hard-throwers is rising.
“If there isn’t deception, there isn’t trip, [hitters] can catch up in the event you don’t have one thing else that they will take into consideration,” he mentioned.
Thus far the hitters aren’t catching up: In seven innings this summer season coming into Wednesday, Henriquez has allowed simply three hits and walked one whereas placing out 4. Opponents are hitting .120 in opposition to him.
It’s been a speedy rise for Henriquez, who has gone from teenage catcher to big-league reliever, surviving a world pandemic, Tommy John surgical procedure and a fractured bone in his foot to pitch for a World Sequence champion. However there’s nonetheless one objective left, albeit one he talks about solely grudgingly.
On a staff with out set bullpen roles, Henriquez needs to be a more in-depth, utilizing his blazing fastball not simply to demoralize hitters however to close down video games as nicely.
“No matter God has in retailer for me. We’ll work wherever and maintain going,” he mentioned. “However sure, I’d prefer to be a more in-depth.”
