The town of Dell Rapids, South Dakota is about 30 minutes straight north of Sioux Falls, has just about 4,000 people living in town, around 300 students at its high school, and one Perfect Game All-American.
Austin Henry, the No. 48 overall prospect in the 2022 class and No. 9 right-handed pitcher, will head to San Diego this weekend as the state’s first-ever participant in the All-American Classic.
“I’m just honored to represent South Dakota and be the first guy to ever do it,” Henry said. “There’s been great baseball players that have come out of South Dakota, and for me to be the only one to represent the state at the All-American Classic, it’s an unbelievable honor.”
Henry doesn’t see his home state as any sort of impediment or excuse to pout about recruitment or prospect rankings.
It is true that there isn’t as much visibility in a state like South Dakota as there is in Georgia, Florida, Texas, or any of the other MLB Draft pipeline states. But it’s also true that if you put the work in, talent is talent and the right people will find you.
That’s what Henry has figured out through the years.
“I thought being from South Dakota might hold me back a lot more than it really has,” he said. “I feel like people in the past have used it as an excuse for not getting recruited and not getting exposure. I know there’s not a ton up here, but you just have to work a little harder. It’s not an excuse when you don’t get the exposure you want or don’t get offered by the right school.”
Henry’s story is an example of what he talks about.
His first Perfect Game event was the 2020 West MLK Championship at Camelback Ranch out in Phoenix, Ariz. He pitched well – he was named to the all-tournament team in the upperclass division playing against older competition – but topped out at 85 mph with his fastball.
He spent the next year working on his craft, and showed up to the 2021 Pitcher/Catcher Indoor Showcase in Cedar Rapids, Iowa ready to show off his new arsenal. In the back of his head, he also knew a strong performance at Pitcher/Catcher could lead to an invite to PG National.
“My goal going into [Pitcher/Catcher Indoor] was to get my Perfect Game profile up to date, because before that, the only other PG event I had been at was the West MLK in 2020,” Henry said. “I wanted to show some of the progress I had been working on. Really my main motivation going into that event…was to get that PG National invite.”
The reviews were glowing from the scouting staff at that event for Henry, who showed off his 6-foot-5 frame and explosive delivery in a showcase setting for the first time.
He worked an 89 mph at the top of the zone consistently, and paired it with a hammer curveball below the zone to garner a ton of swing-and-miss. The dominant outing showed the potential Henry provides, as well as the right-now production he brings.
The invite to PG National did come because of his performance at Pitcher/Catcher, and that’s when things changed for Henry, according to him.
He became rather famous at Tropicana Field in mid-July.
“I knew I had been on a climb up this summer, but when stuff really started to get real was at Perfect Game National,” Henry said. “I went out there and threw, and it opened a lot of eyes, and stuff started to get real. My ranking went up, I was getting all this national publicity, social media and all this other stuff. Ever since that day, I’ve had the idea that this could really be where my future is.”
He threw two innings at National, striking out five, allowing just one hit, and ran his fastball up to 92 mph, all while throwing strikes at a 66 percent rate. Henry also proved to be one of this class’ spin rate darlings, with his hammer curveball registering rates above 3,200 RPM.
For reference, the MLB average on a 12-6 curveball like Henry’s is somewhere between 2,500-2,600 RPM. Henry’s curve would be among the hardest-spinning in MLB.
The newfound spin comes from a change in Henry’s grip. A minor league teammate of Henry’s pitching coach really spun his curveball, and he is now borrowing that grip. It seems to be working.
He didn’t surprise himself at National, although he did have that effect on pretty much everyone else who watched him at the Trop. He just wanted to compete, and competing against the best players in the country wasn’t something that up to that point he had had a ton of opportunities to do.
“I’m trying to beat whoever it is who’s trying to hit off me,” Henry said. “They’re trying to beat me. It’s that competitiveness that I feel like keeps me in the running with all these other kids from the Floridas and Georgias and other big states.”
Now, thanks to his performance against those kids from Florida and Georgia, he will see them again out in San Diego for the Perfect Game All-American Classic.
It’s been a rapid rise for Henry, and the Classic wasn’t really on his radar, even immediately after his performance at National.
August is typically reserved for two-a-day football practices – Henry is a quarterback at Dell Rapids – but this year has involved two trips out to San Diego for Area Codes and the All-American Classic.
Post routes and pre-snap reads will have to take a backseat to that hammer curveball this weekend.
“When I first [found out] I had been selected, it was unlike anything ever,” Henry said. “You read it, ‘
Austin Henry, you have been selected for the All-American Classic’ and I just went, ‘Wow.’”