PLAYER REVIEW: COLE HENRY
Age on Opening Day 2026: 26
How acquired: Second round pick, 2020 MLB Draft
MLB service time: 169 days
2025 salary: $760,000
Contract status: Under club control, arbitration-eligible in 2028, free agent in 2032
2025 stats: 1-2, 4.27 ERA, 57 G, 2 SV, 52 2/3 IP, 43 H, 27 R, 25 ER, 7 HR, 32 BB, 52 SO, 11 HBP, 1.424 WHIP, 97 ERA+, 5.34 FIP, 0.3 bWAR, -0.3 fWAR
Quotable: “I like being out of the bullpen. I like pitching with that adrenaline, and late in games and stuff. Definitely have some things to work on, but I was kind of learning on the fly the whole year. It was cool to get this whole year’s experience under my belt and kind of know what to expect next year, as far as different situations and how to approach everything in the right way.” – Cole Henry
2025 analysis: Considered one of the organization’s top rotation prospects only three years ago, Henry career was thrown a curveball when he needed thoracic outlet surgery in 2022. That major procedure limited him to only 49 2/3 total innings pitched in the minor leagues in 2023-24, so the Nationals decided to try something different when they invited him to spring training this year: A move to the bullpen, hoping his arm would better hold up to that kind of short-burst workload.
Henry opened the season with Triple-A Rochester, but after only two appearances he got the call to meet the Nats in Miami for his major league debut. He never returned to the minors.
Initially used in low-leverage situations, Henry slowly worked his way up the bullpen depth chart to a more prominent role by tossing scoreless ball in 18 of his first 19 big league appearances. He notched his first two career holds in late-May, took his first loss after allowing the 10th inning automatic runner to score in mid-June and recorded his first win in the second half of a July 2 doubleheader against the Tigers.
By then, Henry was regularly pitching in front of closer Kyle Finnegan, sharing the setup role with lefty Jose A. Ferrer. And when Finnegan was dealt to Detroit at the trade deadline, he become the primary setup man for Ferrer, with a couple of opportunities to close out games himself when Ferrer was unavailable. The wear and tear of his first season as a major league reliever may have begun to get to him in September, with three rough outings that raised his ERA over 4.00. The Nationals then placed him on the 15-day injured list to end the season with a mild back strain.
2026 outlook: There was a lot to like about Henry’s rookie season. Above all else, he proved he could (mostly) stay healthy while learning how to manage a reliever’s workload for the first time, and actually be pretty successful at the major league level. That was no small achievement for a guy whose career seemed to be teetering on the brink prior to 2025.
Henry has a chance to be very successful because he’s got a lethal fastball-curveball combo that plays very well off each other. Everything he throws moves, leaving hitters uncomfortable and unable to gear up for one pitch in one location. He might need to develop more trust in a third pitch; he threw a handful of cutters and changeups, but neither became a regular weapon for him.
More than anything, Henry just needs to develop better command of his fastball and curveball. When he got in trouble this season, it usually wasn’t because of loud contact. Opponents hit just .219 and slugged just .367 off him. He troubles were usually a result of walks and hit-by-pitches. His misses tended to be well outside the zone, giving batters no reason to offer at them. Interestingly, they chased only 19.7 percent of his pitches outside the zone, a very low rate.
If Henry can find a way to make those high-movement fastballs and curveballs stay just a bit closer to the strike zone, his stuff is plenty good enough to get big league hitters out on a regular basis. And with more experience pitching in high-leverage situations, he very well could turn into a top bullpen arm for this team for several years to come.