Henderson to start Friday for Brewers

Henderson gave up a pair of home runs, but both came with no one on to make them more digestible. Outside of the roundtrippers the 24-year-old was outstanding with eight strikeouts against one walk while throwing 55-of-83 pitches for strikes. He’s now 6-1 on the season with an excellent 2.70 ERA on the season, and a chance to make both numbers better is scheduled to come next week against the Padres in San Diego.

Henderson was outstanding in San Francisco on Tuesday, holding the Giants scoreless into the sixth. He allowed just two hits and walked two batters while tossing 64 of 93 pitches for strikes and collecting seven strikeouts. The 24-year-old right-hander has posted an impressive 2.66 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and a 54/9 K/BB ratio across 44 innings. He’ll look to keep it going against the Pirates in Milwaukee on Monday.

Henderson gave up homers to Marcus Semien and Brett Baty, but both were solo shots. He went without a walk for the second straight outing and moved to 4-1 with a 3.05 ERA over eight starts this season. Durability is a real question mark here, but he could be a top-30 SP the rest of the way if he remains healthy. He’ll take on the Giants next.

It’s so easy to be bullish on Henderson. As usual, his changeup was lethal in this start, forcing five of his six total swings-and-misses and plenty of weak contact as well. His cutter was also great in terms of generating strikes and quality fastball command kept the whole thing rolling. The Marlins rarely challenged him and he was cruising before a visit from the trainers in the fifth inning. He’d finish that frame, but didn’t come out for the sixth despite being at just 73 pitches. After the game, he mentioned dealing with a forearm cramp and that the team felt it was best to play it safe. Keep an eye on his status ahead of his next scheduled start against the Mets at home.

Henderson struck out four batters on the evening while allowing only one base on balls. He allowed a run in the fourth inning on an RBI single off the bat of Lars Nootbaar. Henderson then ran into trouble in the sixth, exiting with two men on and one out — and both inherited runners immediately scored on a three-run blast by Jordan Walker. Henderson generated eight whiffs on 76 pitches on the night, posting a CSW of 28 percent. The 24-year-old hurler finishes the first half with a 3-1 record, 3.18 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and a 34/7 K/BB ratio across 28 1/3 innings through his first six starts. As long as he stays healthy, he should have plenty of mixed league viability over the second half of the season.

As expected, Henderson will return from the injured list to start on Thursday against the Cardinals. The 24-year-old hurler has been sidelined since May 22 due to a back issue. He only threw 68 pitches during his final minor league rehab start, so don’t expect him to take on a full workload in Thursday’s return.

This had long been speculated, but MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy confirmed it on Wednesday afternoon. Henderson was up to 68 pitches in his last rehab outing, so we would expect him to be at about 80 pitches in his return. Given that he hasn’t pitched in an MLB game since May 22nd and will not be fully stretched out, it’s hard to trust Henderson in most fantasy formats this week. However, he absolutely needs to be rostered if he is out there in any league type right now.

There was hardly any doubt after Henderson piled up seven strikeouts over three shutout innings during his latest minor league rehab start for Triple-A Nashville over the weekend. The 24-year-old will need at least one additional tune-up outing to build up his pitch count, but he’s primed to rejoin Milwaukee’s rotation at some point in early July. He’s shown some real flashes of immense potential, when healthy, with a sparkling 2.23 ERA and 63/14 K/BB ratio across 48 1/3 innings at the highest level over the last two seasons. He’s worthy of a speculative roster spot in all fantasy leagues.

Henderson allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out seven batters. He threw 32 of his 50 pitches for strikes and sat 92.9 mph on his four-seam fastball, which is essentially where he was earlier in the season. He did struggle with his command on that pitch, posting just a 48 percent zone rate and 56 percent strike rate on his fastball, but he induced plenty of whiffs when it was in the zone, and his secondaries were commanded better. He’ll likely need at least one more rehab start, probably two, before he returns to the Brewers’ rotation, but now would be a good time to stash him if he was dropped in your league.

It’s not yet known where Henderson’s rehab appearance will take place. The 24-year-old has been out of action since the end of May with a back strain, and he’ll likely need to make at least two rehab starts — likely more — before being an option for the Brewers and fantasy managers around the All-Star break if there are no setbacks.