Why Ronny Henriquez deserves the Marlins closer's role

[Sean McCormack]

Late into the offseason, Ronny Henriquez was designated for assignment by the Minnesota Twins. The Marlins picked up the undersized, hard-throwing righty off of waivers and gave him a shot this past spring training. Henriquez impressed the coaching staff, which led to his first Opening Day nod.

Henriquez climbed the minors relatively quickly during his time with the Texas Rangers before being traded to Minnesota in 2022 in a deal that included Mitch Garver. Following his acquisition, Henriquez was the 14th-ranked prospect in the Twins org. 

Henriquez had a starting pitcher background, but was converted into a full-time reliever by the Twins. He got solid results out of the bullpen in 2024 and those have improved so far this season. Through 28 ⅔ innings pitched as a Marlin, he has posted a 2.20 ERA and 3.42 FIP, striking hitters out 32% of the time.

There's no risk of Henriquez being DFA'd again anytime soon. Quite the opposite—the Marlins should be looking for ways to expand his role even more.

Commanding the strike zone is still a significant hurdle. Combining that with durability concerns, Henriquez is unlikely to get the opportunity to join a major league rotation. With that being said, his stuff could translate well to closing out games.

Henriquez has the arsenal of a starter, with four quality pitches: a sweeper (which the Marlins added this spring), a more conventional slider, changeup, and fastball that plays up due to its velocity, spin efficiency, and arm angle. Each of those weapons have been effective at missing bats. Henriquez and Jason Adam are the only two relievers in MLB this season with four different pitch types (thrown a minimum of 50 times each) that have whiff rates greater than 25%. 

The new sweeper has been elite with a 50% whiff rate and a 31.6 SwStr%, which ranks in the 99th percentile for sweepers. It's been Henriquez's most-used pitch this season, coming in at 28% of the time. He utilizes the pitch more versus righties than to lefties, electing to use the changeup as his main offspeed pitch versus lefties. 

Because of his shorter stature compared to most pitchers in today's game and his higher arm slot, Henriquez gets great backspin on the ball and pounds the top of the zone with his four-seam fastball. Its spin rate ranks in the 80th percentile, gets 18 inches of induced vertical break, and averages 96 mph. But what stands out the most is his vertical approach angle. Henriquez's fastball has a VAA of -3.8 degrees (95th percentile). All of this plays well off of his 42-degree arm slot, allowing him to generate that high carry-spin fastball.

The pitch has generated a 31.8 CSW%, which ranks in the top 70% of fastballs. Hitters have a .161 xBA and .256 xwOBA against the fastball. Everything indicates the pitch should stay effective the rest of the season as long as it is thrown at the top of the zone. 

Henrique's slider has posted a xBA of .128, xSLG of .316, xwOBA of .272 and a 39% whiff rate. It is only being hit hard 25% of the time. It has gotten good results regardless of batter handedness, although the batted ball data versus lefties is mildly concerning. This slider is unique—it doesn't move much horizontally, yet has more downward drop. If Henriquez were to throw this pitch harder than its current 87 mph average, I believe it would get even better results.

Lastly, Henriquez's changeup has resulted in a .310 xBA, .464 xwOBA, and a HH% of 50%—all very poor numbers. He's thrown the pitch 91 times this season and 81 times to lefties. Ironically, when rarely used to righties, it has performed very well. It should be used more in those situations to jam hitters. 

A lefty problem may arise in the future as hitters adjust to Henriquez's new stuff. Developing another way to neutralize lefties would be advantageous.

With the current state of the Marlins bullpen isn't great overall. Andrew Nardi has been out all season due to injury and Declan Cronin still isn't back to his 2024 self. Jesús Tinoco was just diagnosed with a forearm strain and he hadn't been missing bats even when healthy. Breakout reliever Calvin Faucher has also underperformed relative to last season. Although Anthony Bender has the edge in terms of experience, I believe Ronny Henriquez offers more upside and is currently the best option to close games for the Fish.

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[Guest]

Who wrote this article? Obviously written by someone who knows absolutely NOTHING about the Miami Marlins. The entire concept of the article is ludicrous from the first sentence. The writer says that Ronny Henriquez deserves “the closer roll”. If he knew ANYTHING at all about how Moron McCullough manages this dumpster fire of a team, he would know that THERE ARE NO “ROLES” in the Moron’s bullpen. There are no closers or set up guys, or long relievers. The Moron knows that he is smarter than every other manager in baseball and therefore EVERY PITCHER DOES EVERY ROLE. A guy can close a game today and pitch in the 5th inning tomorrow! That’s the GENIUS of Moron McCullough! Secondly, he and Bendix have no respect for unorthodox pitchers like Henriquez and Bellozo. Far from “expanding their roles’ the likelihood is that both will be TRADED at the deadline. This is the Miami Marlins; that’s how they do. Act like you know this, and do not expect this team's owner, GM and especially the manager to do what successful MLB franchises do.