So much of the hype surrounding the Milwaukee Brewers' bullpen this season has gone to Jacob Misiorowski, and rightfully so, but he's far from the only young ace emerging from this rotation. Now nine games into his second season in the majors, Logan Henderson is the next in a long line of player development success stories for Milwaukee.
The 24-year-old already has as reliable a three-pitch mix as you could ask for between his four-seam fastball, changeup, and cutter, tearing through lineups while mixing in the occasional sweeper and curveball for good measure. Per Baseball Savant, Henderson is in the 96th percentile of K%, 95th percentile of xERA, and 93rd percentile of BB%.
The numbers tell a perfect recipe for success — a high strikeout rate, a low walk percentage and a lower expected ERA than all but 5% of pitchers in baseball. With a 5-1 record through 44 innings pitched this season, we're seeing the fruits of his labor pay off despite injuries to the lower back forearm earlier this season.
We're witnessing the rise of one of the most talented young pitchers in the game, and it's only going under the radar because there's someone even better ahead of him in the rotation. But Logan Henderson's praises should be sung by Brewers fans and baseball analysts alike, and if you're not already convinced, there's one stat that should tell the full story.
Brewers starter Logan Henderson is hitting the record books in a way that only Paul Skenes has before him.
According to a stat gathered by Just Baseball Media, Logan Henderson has joined Paul Skenes as the only starting pitchers to strike out 80+ batters while allowing 20 or fewer runs through their first 14 starts. If that's the standard, a full, healthy season of Henderson would probably land in All-Star territory, just as Skenes did from the start of his major league career.
The stat also needs to be taken with a grain of salt, as there's a long history of this game, and it's hard to verify how far back these stats go. But if that's really it, it's time to start treating Henderson the same way we're talking about the Miz. These could genuinely turn out to be two of the great pitchers of this era of baseball emerging alongside each other in Milwaukee.
So while his lack of availability has put him under the radar, we cannot allow Logan Henderson's incredible breakout campaign to remain as underrated as its been. If he can keep this up into the postseason and prove himself on the biggest stage, Henderson should be in All-Star conversations as soon as next season.
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