TORONTO – Canadian right-hander Jim Henderson is considering another run at the big leagues, buoyed by a restorative summer off and a brief stint with Aguilas de Zulia in Venezuela’s winter league.
The Calgary right-hander last pitched in the majors with the New York Mets in 2016, logging 35 innings over 44 games with a 1.372 WHIP and a strikeout rate per nine innings of 10.3 while fighting through shoulder and biceps issues.
Last year, he signed a minor-league deal with the Chicago Cubs but was released March 23 and ended up taking the summer off, enjoying it "more than I wanted to, but I also missed playing."
"I’m actively working out and throwing down in Arizona, I have a home down there, I’ve talked to an independent ball team as a backup plan if I take that route," Henderson said over the weekend while in town for Baseball Canada’s annual awards banquet. "If my body feels good and I feel good, I want to continue playing. If my body doesn’t respond after taking a year off, I’m actually really happy with hanging them up if I have to. But at the same time, I’d love to play."
Henderson joined Azulia briefly before Christmas, throwing a clean inning with a strikeout in his only appearance. Pitching again in a competitive setting and being part of a team, even for a short while, helped convince him to further explore if there’s another comeback in him.
Should his progress continue, he’ll try to showcase for teams in the spring.
The 35-year-old has been down the comeback trail before in a stop-and-start career highlighted by a 28-save season with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2013, overcoming shoulder surgeries in 2008 and 2014 to appear in 155 games over parts of four campaigns. He’s pitched for 16 different minor-league teams over 14 years, the Brewers and Mets in the big-leagues, Canada at the World Baseball Classic and his inning with Azulia.
"I’ll be happy whichever way the career goes from this point on," said Henderson. "Early on in my career, when you put in all that work from the injuries and the rehab, you want to see it through. Now that I’m getting older, I have seen it through. I’ve gone through two shoulder surgeries, made a couple of comebacks and my body keeps on playing tricks with me.
"If it feels good, I’m going to push it to the limit and see how long I can play. And if it doesn’t, I think I’ve gotten to a point where it’s time to stop fighting it. We’ll see how it goes."
[snippet id=3305549]
TOSONI TRANSITIONS
Rene Tosoni made an abrupt and unexpected transition from player to coach after suiting up for Canada at the World Baseball Classic last spring, abandoning his plans to play independent ball when the Atlanta Braves offered him a job as an extra coach at double-A Mississippi.
"I was in Miami (for the WBC), got home Tuesday, got a phone call Thursday and I was back in Orlando on Sunday," the former outfielder from Port Coquitlam, B.C., recalled. "It just kind of happened, it was a quick turnaround, I’m very appreciative of how it worked out."
The 31-year-old embarks on a new challenge this year after the Braves promoted him to hitting coach at advanced-A Florida. With the Fire Frogs, he’ll build on his experience at Mississippi, where he spent time coaching first base and filling in other areas as needed.
"My dream has come and gone and that’s OK," said Tosoni, who played 60 games with the Minnesota Twins in 2011 and logged 983 games at all levels over 10 years. "I got to see the game from a different viewpoint. At times I was coaching at first, like, ‘Man, I want to hit off this guy, he’s throwing cookies.’ But I was totally OK with that. I thought it would be really hard, but it was good. Being on the field was very important to me. I wanted to be a coach, probably about two years ago I started thinking about it.
"Now I’m a high-A hitting coach. I’m very excited for that."
[relatedlinks]
BASEBALL CANADA AWARDS
Baseball Canada handed out its yearly awards over the weekend during its annual awards banquet, with longtime senior national team member Andrew Albers of North Battleford, Sask., receiving the Stubby Clapp Award and a series of young players honoured.
Albers, who last month signed with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan, pitched for Canada at the World Baseball Classic last year and went 5-1 with a 3.51 earned-run average in nine games, six starts, with the Seattle Mariners.
Mike Soroka of Calgary, who was named the Braves’ minor-league pitcher of the year, received a Special Achievement Award, while his Futures Game teammate, San Diego Padres prospect Josh Naylor of Mississauga, Ont., received the Alumni Award.
Noah Naylor (Junior National Team MVP) and Denzel Clarke (Canadian Futures Award), two of the top draft-eligible Canadians, and Minnesota Twins right-hander and second-round pick Landon Leach (Special Recognition Award) also bagged prizes.
