Following a year of up and down stints in the minors and majors, Arizona Diamondbacks lefty pitcher Tommy Henry enters spring training a newly married man and is eager to get his competitive juices flowing.
Henry began the 2024 season on the 40-man roster and was even given the ball during the Diamondbacks’ opening series against the Colorado Rockies. But, nearly three months later, the then-third-year pro only logged seven more starts and was optioned to Triple-A Reno three times. He was unable to keep his game ERA below 5.00 and never really got settled in.
This was following a solid sophomore campaign in which Henry pieced together a 4.15 ERA over 17 games (16 starts).
With spring training being symbolic of renewed hope, Henry, just married in December, said he is simply “getting back to being myself.”
“I’d like to get back to being athletic on the mound and then just competing in the box,” Henry said Friday on Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke. “As a pitcher, it’s really tempting to want to get mechanical and like hav(ing) to be perfect ‘mechanics.’ … So, being athletic on the mound can look different for all people and for me it’s freedom. It’s moving how I feel like I should move and then we kind of tweak things from there.”
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Like his counterpart Ryan Thompson, Henry said he is cooking up some new pitches, but unlike the side-arm reliever, specifically revealed he is working on a cutter. He prefaced the pitch is still a work in progress but the end goal is to speed up right-handed batters and make lefties think twice when he delivers.
Last season, Henry didn’t suffer from a lack of pitching depth, tossing five types in a four-season fastball, curveball, sinker, changeup and slider. And within that spread, Henry didn’t favor a single type. He threw his four-seamer the most (31.2%) and complemented it with 25.7% being curveballs and 19.6% sinkers, per FanGraphs. Changeups were offered at a 16.2% rate while Henry’s slider was his least utilized at just 7.2%.
“(Spring training’s) just really getting back to strengths that I’ve had in the past, the curveball, the full mix, honing those in so I’m ready to go for games,” Henry said.
Henry’s curveball was indeed his greatest strength in limited 2024 starts, producing a .250 opponent batting average while punching out 11 (the most per pitching type) and only yielding five extra-base hits against 45 batters.
By keeping his mind on the process of getting better, Henry said he isn’t tampered by expectations.
“What if I set a goal for myself that I blow out of the water in May? What am I going to do the rest of the year? Is that putting a ceiling on myself,” Henry said. “My goal really is just to get better each day, as cliché as that sounds.”
What early vibe does Tommy Henry sense from the clubhouse?
It’s no secret that the 2025 Arizona Diamondbacks are pushing all their chips into the middle of the poker table. A projected payroll exceeding $190 million, which would be a franchise record, proves that. The dished out player salaries is set to be about $75 million more than what took Arizona to the World Series in 2023.
To get back to the Fall Classic, Henry said the D-backs needed the “heartbreak” of last season’s late collapse to miss out on the playoffs. He believes it has lit “extra fire” beneath already motivated players who have, for the most part, experienced the highest highs and lowest lows together.
“There’s enough talent in this clubhouse to be the last team to win a game this year,” Henry said. “I think if you have any goal different than that, ironically talking about goals … I don’t know why you’re putting on a uniform.”
Regardless of the proven pedigree in new-addition Corbin Burnes, two-time MLB All-Star Ketel Marte or invaluable catcher Gabriel Moreno, Henry said being “10 out 10” present on the task at hand will “align with good results.”
Henry will be battling for a starter’s position in arguably the deepest D-backs rotation in its 27-year history.
All spring training invitees will report for full squad workouts on Monday, with backup catcher and backup infielder the most up for grabs.
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