The Yankees selected Ty Hensley with the 30th pick of the 2012 draft. The Yankees very fortunate Hensley dropped that low. Considering his size, and pedigree, there was talk of him going a lot higher in the draft. The Yankees were certainly lucky to get him where they did, but overall have been very unlucky with the selection.
Hensley has had a very rocky career thus far, and really his troubles began right away when a shoulder abnormality cost him 400 thousand from his signing bonus. So far Hensley has been fine, but a myriad of different issues has cost him a ton of development time. Hensley has only been able to pitch 42.1 innings since signing with the Yankees.
So far in his career he’s had an abdominal injury; hip surgery (due to a hip impingement), a broken jaw (due to being assaulted), and an elbow injury. His latest and most concerning injury resulted in him getting Tommy John surgery (TJS), and he’s still in the process of recovering from it. He had the surgery in early April and should be back early next season. After losing so much time, to multiple it’s hard to really say what he will bring to the table, but if he is anything like the player the Yankees drafted he should quickly move up this list.
Hensley was highly regarded because his plus fastball and curveball combination. He was throwing mid-to-high 90’s out of high school, and his curve is described as a 12-6 power curveball, which should serve him well as an out pitch. His third pitch was his changeup was considered advanced for his age, but something he needed to work on.
Fixing his hip impingement should help both his velocity, and overall flexibility, which could help him improve his mechanics. But really for Ty the most important thing is actually being able to pitch. If he makes back on the mound next year, and stays healthy, I feel like he has the ability to make up for lost time.
You must be logged in to post a comment.