Shorebird of the Week – July 31, 2008

Tyler Henson at the plate earlier this week. The righthanded hitter has struggled a bit of late but still has a healthy average.
Tyler Henson looks into the Shorebirds dugout from his familiar position, third base.

One of the higher draft picks playing for the Shorebirds this season, third baseman Tyler Henson has been a regular fixture in manager Ramon Sambo’s lineup. Drafted out of Tuttle High School in the Oklahoma town of the same name, the 2006 5th rounder is playing his first full season at the tender age of 20 (he won’t turn 21 until mid-December.)

As happens with a lot of young players, the grind of a 140-game season seems to be wearing on Tyler a little bit. Starting off at a .308 clip in April, the May average slipped to .288, June’s mark was .253, and for July Tyler’s fallen off to a .235 mark. Put it all together, though, and you have a nice .274 mark in 97 games. Henson is among the team leaders in most offensive categories with 106 hits in 387 at-bats, with 20 doubles, a triple, 6 home runs and 44 RBI. While the .690 OPS is a tick or two below average, young players like Henson generally grow into their game a little as they progress through the minors so a 20/20 type player isn’t out of the question (20 homers/20 stolen bases) – Tyler’s second on the team with his 16 steals in 18 attempts.

The numbers this year are fairly close to his Aberdeen numbers from 2007 (.289/5/31/.802 OPS in 67 games) so the Orioles can decide whether they’d like Henson to gain a little more experience at this level or move him up to Frederick in 2009. Tyler did have a cup of coffee with the Keys in 2007 but only went 1-17 in 6 games for an .059 batting mark. I think he’ll get the return trip to Frederick next season but it’s possible 2007 Shorebird and 2006 1st round pick Billy Rowell may block his way (or Henson will switch positions.) Both were signed out of high school so Henson may chase Rowell all the way up the organization, we’ll see.

For the time being, obviously the learning experience of playing in a full season will help Tyler in the future – so Delmarva fans should enjoy watching the scrappy Henson while they can.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.