Took a big step back in 2024.
- 2024 rating: 3.49
- 2024 stats: 9 G, 38.1 IP, 7.04 ERA, 6.38 FIP, 1.75 WHIP, 1.67 SO/BB, 60 ERA+, also: gave up 9 homeruns and hit 4 batters.
- Date of birth: July 29, 1997 (27 years old)
- 2024 earnings: $163,560 (Pre-Arb, via Spotrac)
- 2025 status: Buried in Reno, 1 minor league option remaining.
Introduction
When writers on here are not lining up to do a player’s review, we will always have Jim McLennan and DBacksEurope to step in and write up something. However, it isn’t a good sign when one of us writes the articles, because most of the times it means that the player is no longer on anyone’s radar. That surely applies to Tommy Henry as well.
Tommy Henry was pretty much a flier when the Diamondbacks selected him in the 2nd round of the 2019 MLB amateur draft. His stock had dropped considerably after a velocity loss, which wasn’t high to begin with, but the Diamondbacks took a gamble here. That gamble played out when Henry reached the majors in 2022 after some unimpressive minor league seasons. In both 2022 and 2023 not many had expected Tommy Henry to perform as well as he actually did, which might have led to him ending #19 twice in our yearly player voting ratings.
At the back-end of the rotation he seemed to have just as decent a shot as Ryne Nelson during Spring Training, although that seemingly became a moot point when Jordan Montgomery was signed right before the start of the season. Montgomery wasn’t going to be ready for Opening Day though, nor Eduardo Rodriguez, so all of a sudden Tommy was in for Opening Day despite a shaky showing during Spring Training, but that doesn’t count anyhow.
2024 review
We all know Tommy Henry by now. The lefty isn’t blowing anyone away with his stuff and needs his command and control to be top of the notch. If he is able to achieve that with maybe a few more strikeouts, Tommy has the potential to be a back-end starter. If not, maybe a move to the bullpen offers another road to moderate success in the major leagues as a multi-inning reliever.
The potential is always there, of course, though you could ask yourself if it will be ever reached. For now, that does not seem the case for Henry. Henry started the season in the Diamondbacks’ rotation, which is exciting, but a season couldn’t have started worse for a kid like Henry. In his first start of the season, the Diamondbacks’ third game, the Rockies blew Henry away, as he gave up 5 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks in 4 innings of work, although having Luis Frías trying to prevent inherited runners from scoring surely doesn’t help.
After that it was a terrible opening month of the season for Henry, with one decent and quality showing in a blow-out win over the Cardinals on April 23, a game he “accidentally” started because Henry was actually optioned on April 22, but was summoned back up immediately after Merrill Kelly hit the injured list. In those first 6 starts of the season Henry could just once complete 6 innings, in his April 23 start, and gave up a homerun in 4 of his 6 starts, with the Diamondbacks always with their back against the wall, though they did win 3 of his 6 starts. He was moved to Reno again on April 30 as the Diamondbacks decided to try Brandon Hughes out.
Henry returned briefly to the majors in June, after logging 31.2 innings and an ERA of 3.41 in AAA, when the Diamondbacks had seen enough of our Logan Allen. If his run in April already wasn’t bad, his second stint in the Major League would be abysmal. In 3 games and 10 innings Henry allowed 14 hits and 13 runs of which 5 homeruns. He also added two hit by pitches to that and struck out just 6 batters while allowing 7 walks. At the end of June Henry was back in Reno and wouldn’t return to the majors no more.
Tommy Henry continued on the highway to hell during the month of July, now in Reno, with the climb of Mount Doom on July 23. That day he gave up 11 earned runs (12 in total) in 2.2 innings against the Las Vegas Aviators (A’s Triple A team).
After that was done and over with, he actually did quite fine for the Aces, pitching to a 2.09 ERA in 7 games. He couldn’t end the regular season on a high note though, because in September he was lit again, wrapping up with 6 earned runs in 2.2 innings of work in his final game.
2025 outlook
Henry ended the 2023 season in July, when he hit the 15-day IL and was later moved to the 60-day IL with left elbow inflammation, his throwing arm. It could be that in 2024 Henry either has not healed completely or is still experiencing some troubles with his throwing or technique because of the injury.
He was pretty much all over the place with his pitches in 2024 and lost an entire mile on the velocity of all pitches, which means that his fastball averaged less than 90 mph. That is not going to cut the grass in the majors without a sharp control.
We can assume that Henry will start the 2025 season in the minors. Most likely his stock has dropped a lot and he is probably behind others like Yilber Díaz, Bryce Jarvis, Cristian Mena or Blake Walston on the starting pitching depth chart. I don’t see Tommy Henry returning again as a starter for the Diamondbacks. His priority, though, should be to build up his arm strength again, otherwise he is pretty much pulp.