Trading Places on the Diamond Takes Root at Segra Park

All Isaiah Henry has ever known is baseball. The 23-year-old was drafted in the 14th round of the 2017 draft out of North Shore High School in Houston, Texas, but his journey began long before that.

Growing up in Texas, baseball is a year-round sport. Studies from ESPN showed that over 15% of kids play on a youth or travel ball team in the Lone Star State. Texas, much like baseball meccas such as Miami and Arizona are shaped that way due to their mild winters that allow children and adults to play baseball outdoors year-round.

Even though a significant amount of young kids play baseball, not many get drafted. Just one in 200 high school baseball players will eventually get drafted by an MLB team, and Henry is one of the 0.5 percent. The Houston native will tell you that he was drafted as a pitcher, but the Royals let him hit to start his career.

From 2017-19, Henry played in 134 games, earning 431 at-bats where he held a .230 average, had six homers and 43 RBI. The highest level the outfielder played at was the now-defunct Pioneer League, where he spent 2019 with the Idaho Falls Chukars. At the start of 2021, the Royals approached him again and asked him to pitch again.

“At the start of Spring Training, the Royals approached me and they said, ‘we know you’ve been hitting for us the last few years, but we want you to give pitching a try.’” Henry tells. That may come as a shock to some. Not everyone is open to trying out new things—particularly after fighting for one goal in the system for so long, but Henry keeps a positive outlook.

When he was on the phone with his mother later that day, he said, “My dream was to play in the big leagues. I was never specific if I was going to be a position player or a pitcher. Anyway I can do it, I’m blessed to do it.”

He has impressed early. His mid-90s fastball has always been complimented by a changeup, but in camp this year, the Royals pitching coordinators taught Henry how to throw a slider. He throws his new weapon with the classic horseshoe grip, and it has generated a fair amount of strikeouts in the 2022 campaign so far.

He’s caught the eye of pitching coach, John Habyan, who spent parts of 11 seasons pitching in the Majors. “Isaiah is a converted position player, but he has a big arm and a good feel for his changeup. I’m really excited to watch him as he continues his transition into a pitcher.”

The early returns have been solid on the bump for the Texas native. In his first eight games (five in 2021 and three in 2022), he has a 3.00 ERA and has held opponents to a .219 batting average. In fact, in his first 6.1 innings in the minors, Henry only allowed two hits, and he kept the opponent scoreless. He’s also been able to miss bats with ease, fanning 14 hitters in the 27 outs he has recorded. Sometimes, it’s more about what you need to learn off the field, rather than on the field.

The hardest part about making this transition for Henry? “It’s conditioning the arm. The running conditioning and all that wasn’t as bad, but conditioning the arm is very different. And you can’t hide a hurt arm on the mound. You can hide that in the outfield, but you can’t hide it when you’re pitching.”

Those words are echoed by Manager Tony Peña Jr. “When you first transition to pitching, the most difficult thing to deal with is understanding the soreness from pitching. It’s different then when you’re a position player. That process takes time for players to understand and it takes time to adjust to that change.”

Luckily, Henry has had some great teammates to look up to, including his throwing partner, Chase Wallace, who started the 2022 campaign in Columbia before getting called up to Quad Cities near the end of April.

“I always ask him questions. I don’t think he even knows it, but I am always asking, ‘what do you do here?’ or ‘how do you deal with this?’ There are some things that aren’t serious enough to talk to trainers or coaches about, and he’s been great to talk to about that stuff.”

Like any great journey, there may be bumps in the road, but Henry is ready to put on his fresh set of tires as he drives his way up to the show. The great part about that for the fans at Segra Park? They get to witness the young prospect hone his stuff first-hand with the Columbia Fireflies. That is what Minor League Baseball is all about.