Jun 15, 2021 4 min read

Getting outs against a lineup of professional hitters, even at the Frontier League level, can be a difficult task for rookie pitchers.

Many young pitchers have struggled the first time through the league because of either a lack of confidence in their pitches, a lack of control or simply being overwhelmed by the quality of hitters.

Now, try to imagine being a rookie pitcher in the Frontier League and not having thrown an inning above a summer men’s league level in the last four years. That would be enough to unnerve even the best rookies. Yet that’s the situation Wild Things lefthander Ryan Hennen was in when the season started last month.

Hennen (6-1, 180), however, has worked through Frontier League hitters with the ease of a hot knife going through butter.

Hennen had not pitched in a college game since 2017, his most-recent experience being in an amateur league in his Minnesota before making his pro debut May 28 at Florence with two scoreless innings, allowing one hit.

Hennen, a native of Cold Springs, Minnesota, made his first professional start three days later, throwing five innings, allowing one hit and one run in a 7-1 victory at Lake Erie. It was Hennen’s first win of note in four years.

Hennen’s second start came June 5 against Quebec and he had a no-hitter for 5 2/3 innings before it was broken up by former Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Gift Negompe.

“I have a lot of trust in my defense, and my catcher, Trevor Casanova, to put the ball over the plate,” Hennen said, trying to explain his quick success.

Hennen threw six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts last Saturday, also against Quebec, in his third start.

Through four outings with the Wild Things, Hennen’s pitching statistics are remarkable: 19 innings, six hits allowed, four walks and 20 strikeouts. Opponents have an anemic .097 batting average against Hennen.

Not bad for a guy the Wild Things plucked out of the Frontier League’s open tryout and draft last month in Avon, Ohio.

“I trained for the tryout for six weeks,” Hennen said. “When I threw to the three or four batters at the tryout, I had a good feeling, but you never know about those things. It was a surreal moment at the time.”

The Wild Things went to the tryout/draft armed with the second overall pick. Their plan was to draft the best lefthander among the 100 or so pitchers, hoping to replace Austin Kitchen, who was purchased off Washington’s roster by the Colorado Rockies in April.

“I saw a kid who has a feel for pitching, can locate his fastball and didn’t look like he was afraid to throw strikes. A lot of guys at that tryout were worried about velocity or were afraid to be in the strike zone,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth said.

“Ryan has a simple delivery, not a lot of moving parts, and he’s not afraid to compete in the zone. He’s been getting ahead in the count, which always helps.”

So Washington drafted Hennen with the second pick and have reaped the rewards. Hennen will make his fourth start of the seasonthis weekend when Washington hosts Lake Erie in a three-game series.

Hennen has always produced positive results when he’s played, but staying healthy has been the problem. He wasn’t highly recruited in high school, but as a freshman in 2017, Hennen was the national Junior College Division III Pitcher of the Year at Century College in Minnesota.

That earned Hennen a spot at the team at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, but nine pitches into his first bullpen session with the Spartans, Hennen felt a pain in his arm. He had torn a ligament in his pitching elbow that required reconstructive surgery, known as Tommy John Surgery.

Hennen missed all of the 2018 season and hoped to return in 2019. However, arm soreness again sidelined him.

“I saw a lot of doctors and they said I had torn the ligament again,” Hennen said. “I went back home to the doctor who performed the original surgery and he said, ‘I’ve never had anybody who tore the ligament a second time.’ He found out that there was a tendon that had calcified in the elbow and it needed cleaned up.”

That second surgery ended any chance of Hennen pitching for UNC-Greensboro, and since then Hennen’s diamond exploits had been limited to an amateur men’s league until he took a shot at the Frontier League.

“Over the years I’ve learned to use my lower half more, which takes some off the stress off my arm,” Hennen said.