Denver – Edgardo Henriquez has a gift. Historically, he could throw baseballs faster than others.
However, he prefers to see it as something he and God created together rather than something he just gave.
“We work hard for it,” said Henriquez, who often uses plural pronouns when talking about himself. “All work, hard work, physics and God’s reward.”
It can be used well no matter where the lightning in the right arm comes from. Of the 106 goals he threw this season in Friday's game, 36 innings were at 101 mph when he shot without a breakout. On August 16, the fastest speed on a radar gun was the hardest Dodger Stadium since Statcast began tracking 2015 and is probably the fastest in franchise history.
Henriquez, 23, shrugged and smiled at the numbers.
“Now we have to be consistent,” he said in Spanish. “Even if I grew up in Venezuela, I always try.”
What he didn't do in Venezuela is publicity because when he signed at the age of 16 in 2018, Henriquez was the catcher. A year later, the Dodgers moved him to the other side of the plate when they brought him to the Dominican Academy.
This process is not a smooth process. The right-hander can run 22 runs in 30 innings in his first season. Then, due to the summer of 1920, he came to the United States a year later, separated from the Arizona Complex League with a 4.93 ERA and a single A Rancho Cucamonga to come to the United States with a 4.93 ERA.
The Dodgers projected him as the starter, but after Henriquez missed the 2023 Tommy John surgery, he returned to throw the air and the team moved him to the bullpen. The results were spectacular, with Henriquez climbing four levels in six months, from Rancho Cucamonga to the Grand Slam, and his major league debut in the final week of the regular season.
He announced his authority, winning a 101 mph victory in his third game.
Henriquez grew up in Cumaná, a historic beach city with about 500,000 people between the Manzanares River and Venezuela's Caribbean Coast, 250 miles east of Caracas. It is the oldest Spanish settlement in South America and it has always been the birthplace of poets and presidents. But baseball players? not much.
Pitcher Armando Galarraga was snatched a perfect game by referee phone calls in 2010, probably the most famous in Cumaná’s major leagues, while Maracay was on the other end of the country, but he developed more than two players, including All-Star Games Bobby Abreu, Miguel Cabrera and Elvis and Elvis Andrus.
“Maracay, yes. They said that was the birthplace of Venezuelan baseball,” Henrix said. “But the truth is it is Cumanza.”
Henriquez competed at a young age, playing in the local fields and sand. And because he was one of the oldest children in the neighborhood, he was placed behind a plate. The Dodgers love his figure – he looks much bigger than the 200 pounds he attributes to the 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds on the lineup – so they offered him $80,000 in signing international free agents to make him a pitcher.
Henriquez's fastball hit 101 mph before the elbow reconstruction surgery. But he came back, throwing harder, averaged 99 miles per hour, reaching 104 in minors last summer. This won him a September promotion and won a roster for the Dodgers’ first two playoff series.
He also ranked No. 1 on the season's opening day roster, with an injury to his left foot stumbled into a walking boot, roster situations for most spring training.
Neither the Dodgers nor Henrix talk about how the damage happens.
“I'd rather keep myself,” the pitcher said this week.
However, this setback proves another obstacle that Henriquez overcomes, after hitting 36 batsmen in 23 2/3 innings for Oklahoma City, he was called back to the Dodgers a month ago.
In some ways, he is a different pitcher.
“He looks more confident,” said manager Dave Roberts. “I think he was confident last year, but understandably, he knew his stuff was playing here, which was a false confidence. It was great to see his stuff.”
His record-breaking stadium was in the sixth game of his nine scoreless appearances, when he hit a four-hole fastball in the seventh inning of the seventh defeat of San Diego Padres.
His parents Edgar and Erika visited O'Hearn from the stands at Venezuela and Dodger Stadium, which attracted social media attention. As a result, Roberts said pitching coach Mark Prior and bullpen coach Josh Bard made sure Henriquez learned that more of it was just lighting up the radar gun.
However, as good as a quad-availator, this may not be the best course in Henriquez. His knives are located in the mid-90s, probably almost all, and he also has devastating sliders. Chris Forbes, senior director of player development at Colorado Rockies, said he will need all of this track to succeed in the Grand Slam as the number of hard speculators is growing.
“If there is no cheating, no riding a bike, [hitters] If you don't have anything else to consider, you can catch up. ” he said.
So far, the batsmen have not caught up: Henriquez allowed six hits and walked once while hitting four games in nine innings this summer. The opponent hit .176 against him.
It was a rapid rise for Henriquez, who has survived from a teenage catcher to a major league reliefist, and in the global pandemic, Tommy John's surgery and a fractured bone on his foot pitched for the World Series champion.
But there is still another goal, although he is just barely talking about it.
On a team without a bullpen role, Henriquez hopes to get close to a fastball at close range that not only brings down the batsman morale but also can shut down the game.
“Whatever God stores for me. We will work anywhere and keep moving forward,” he said. “But yes, I want to get close.”