BATON ROUGE, La. – Former LSU right-hander Cole Henry pitched a scoreless inning in his Major League debut Sunday for the Washington Nationals in their game against the Miami Marlins at LoanDepot Park in Miami.
Henry, a product of Florence, Ala., is the 88th Major Leaguer in the illustrious history of LSU Baseball. LSU has had at least one former player make his MLB debut in of 31 of the past 35 seasons.
Washington called up Henry, its second-round pick out of LSU in the 2020 MLB Draft, to fill the void created when it placed reliever Orlando Ribalta on the 15-day IL Sunday with a right biceps strain. Henry struck out two and allowed one hit.
A starter most of his career, Henry was moved to the bullpen during Spring Training this year, and he’s expected to fill a long relief role for the Nationals.
Henry, who underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in 2022, has been effective when healthy. Though his Minor League record is only 4–9, his 3.25 ERA, 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings and .190 opponent batting average suggest he has pitched better than his record indicates.
Henry pitched at LSU for two seasons (2019-20), and he received Freshman All-America and Freshman All-SEC recognition in 2019, when he made 14 appearances (11 starts) and recorded a 4-2 mark and a 3.39 ERA in 58.1 innings with 18 walks and 72 strikeouts.
He was voted to the 2019 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional All-Tournament team after firing five shutout innings versus Southern Miss, allowing just two hits with three walks and six strikeouts.
Henry was LSU’s No. 1 starter on the mound in each of the four weekends of the shortened 2020 season, posting a 2-1 mark and a 1.89 ERA in 19 innings with six walks and 23 strikeouts.