The Astros will select the contract of right-hander Blair Henley, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2, with Henley starting in place of left-hander Framber Valdez. At this point, it’s unclear if Valdez is injured or if this is simply a spot start situation to give everyone extra rest. Henley will need to be added to the 40-man roster but they could easily move Oliver Ortega, who is out for several months due to elbow surgery, to the 60-day injured list.
Henley, 27 next month, will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. The righty was selected by the Astros in the seventh round of the 2019 draft. He cracked the Baseball America list of the top 30 farmhands in the system in 2020 and 2021 but has slipped off in subsequent versions. In 2021, he posted a 7.02 earned run average in 16 2/3 innings at High-A before requiring Tommy John surgery, wiping out the rest of that season and his 2022 as well.
He returned to the mound last year and tossed 106 2/3 innings at the Double-A level with a 5.06 ERA. His 11.1% walk rate was on the high side but his 22.3% strikeout rate was solid and his 51.2% ground ball rate quite strong. He was sent to Triple-A to start this year and has already made one start there, allowing three earned runs in five innings with six strikeouts and four walks.
He will now get a chance to come up and pitch at the major league level. Henley isn’t one of the club’s top pitching prospects so it’s a bit unusual that he’s the one getting the call today, but perhaps more information will be forthcoming on that decision as the game draws closer.
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