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PITCHER TRAINING TABLE FILLING UP
June 9, 2043: Yellow Springs – Left-handed pitcher Josh Henson is on a hot streak. Over his last 15+ innings he’s allowed exactly zero runs, earned or otherwise. He’s struck out 15 hitters and walked only two. On the season he’s sitting at 7-1, with a 3.12 ERA. His WHIP is 0.90 for all you fantasy owners. His FIP of 3.49 expands out to a FIP- of a nice, round 85. He’s started five games, gone in relief in 11 others. In other words, the 23 year old from Watertown, South Dakota is having what is known as AHelluvaYear.
“It’s been bugging me a bit,” he said after yesterday’s 5-2 win over Loserville (there is no truth to the rumor that we linked that game just because it's fun to highlight a victory over Loserville), in which he went four and a third scoreless (naturally) and notched five Ks. “Right now everything is coming along the way you want it to, you know, so I really don’t really want to sit down.”
A solid sitting is likely in his future, though. Team trainers have suggested that rest is the only real solution for this forearm, which they have so helpfully diagnosed as a strain. Put Henson on the IL with Carlos Pineda and Alberto Contreras, both rehabbing shoulder strains, and Armando Duarte’s torn ligament and you’ve got the starting of a pretty good pitching staff.
“That’s why depth is so important to us,” said pitching coach Alberto Sanchez. “When we sent a lot of guys down to AAA in the spring some people thought we should go deeper into the trade market and flip them for later value, but 162 games is a grind. We need the next guy to stand in, you know? We’ll wade through it.”
Most insiders expect the team to call up lefty Jean Kattenberg to take Henson's place, and some suggest that Henson's injury may give rookie started Dave Lee a brief reprieve from being sent to Indy.
Jesus Rodriguez On Schedule
In other injury news, catcher Jesus Rodriguez, on the IL with a strained Latissimus Dorsi, appears to be on track for a return in two weeks. There is no truth to the rumor that we added this news bit because Latissimus Dorsi is fun to say.