DENVER — Edgardo Henriquez has a present. He can throw a baseball sooner than all however a number of people in historical past.
But he prefers to consider it as one thing he and God created collectively, not one thing that was simply given to him.
“We’ve worked for that,” mentioned Henriquez, who often makes use of the plural pronoun when speaking about himself. “All the work, the effort, 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 getting into Wednesday’s sport, 28 have topped 101 miles per hour. The quickest hit 103.3 mph 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 have to stay consistent,” he mentioned in Spanish. “Even growing up in Venezuela, I always threw hard.”
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 acquired 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 COVID-19 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 break up between the Arizona Advanced 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 fuel 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 remaining week of the common season.
And he introduced his presence with authority, topping 101 mph twice to earn the save in his third sport.
Henriquez grew up in Cumaná, a historic seaside metropolis of about half one million folks wedged between the Manzanares River and Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, 250 miles east of Caracas. The oldest repeatedly inhabited Spanish settlement in South America, it has been the birthplace of poets and presidents. However baseball gamers? Not a lot.
Pitcher Armando Galarraga, who was robbed of an ideal sport by an umpire’s name in 2010, might be the most effective recognized of Cumaná’s massive 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, yes. They say that is the birthplace of baseball in Venezuela,” Henriquez mentioned. “But the truth is it’s Cumaná.”
Henriquez took to the sport at an early age, enjoying 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 favored his measurement — he appears to be like a lot larger than the 6-foot-4 and 200 kilos he’s credited with on the roster — and arm so that they provided him $80,000 to signal as a global free agent with the intention of constructing him a pitcher.
Earlier than the elbow-reconstruction surgical procedure, Henriquez touched 101 mph along with his 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 discuss how the damage occurred.
“I’d rather keep 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 distinct pitcher.
“He looks much more confident,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “I think he was confident last year, but there was like a fake confidence, understandably. He knows his stuff plays 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 on a four-seam fastball within the seventh inning of a win over the San Diego Padres.
His dad and mom, Edgar and Erika, had been visiting from Venezuela and within the stands at Dodger Stadium for the pitch to O’Hearn, one which has generated a number 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.
Nearly as good because the four-seamer is, nevertheless, it is probably not Henriquez’s finest pitch. His cutter, which sits within the mid-90s, may be all however unhittable 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 ride, [hitters] can catch up if you don’t have something else that they can think about,” he mentioned.
To date the hitters aren’t catching up: In seven innings this summer season getting into Wednesday, Henriquez has allowed simply three hits and walked one whereas placing out 4. Opponents are hitting .120 towards him.
It’s been a fast rise for Henriquez, who has gone from teenage catcher to massive league reliever, surviving a world pandemic, Tommy John surgical procedure and a fractured bone in his foot to pitch for a World Collection champion.
However there’s nonetheless one purpose left, albeit one he talks about solely grudgingly.
On a staff with out set bullpen roles, Henriquez desires to be a better, utilizing his blazing fastball not simply to demoralize hitters however to close down video games as nicely.
“Whatever God has in store for me. We’ll work wherever and keep going,” he mentioned. “But yes, I’d like to be a closer.”
