Harrisburg Senators’ Cole Henry is hot...

BOWIE, Maryland – There are two pitchers with the Double-A Harrisburg Senators who are on the 40-man roster of the Nationals.

But it is another hurler who may be closer to the majors than Gerardo Carrillo and Evan Lee.

Cole Henry, one of the top prospects in the Washington system, has allowed just three hits in his first 13 innings over four starts this season.

Henry has an ERA of 0.00 and batters are hitting just .073 against him.

“He has pitched really well; his fastball command, he has established it to both sides of the plate up and down and pounding the strike zone,” said Harrisburg manager Tripp Keister to Federal Baseball on Tuesday before the Senators began a series here against the Bowie Baysox.

“He has had a good mix and hopefully he can build on his good start. He has made every start; he is working on his change-up and slider as well. He has made every start and last time went four innings.”

Henry, an Alabama native who turns 23 in July, was drafted out of LSU in the second round by the Nationals in 2020.

He had an ERA of 2.30 in 11 games with 10 starts split between the Florida Complex and high Single-A Wilmington last year, and had a standout campaign in the Arizona Fall League.

As for Carrillo, part of the trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers last July, he is on the Injured List with Harrisburg, and is in Florida working with rehab pitching coordinator Mark Grater, according to Keister.

Lee is slated to start for Harrisburg on Saturday here at Bowie, a farm team of the Orioles.

He has an ERA of 1.88 in four starts this year for the Senators. Lee was drafted in the 15^th round out of Arkansas in 2018 by the Nationals.

“He is coming off his best start,” Keister said of Lee. “He was really efficient in his first four innings; he really pitched well Sunday.”

De Jon Watson, the new farm director of the Nationals, was on hand at Bowie on Tuesday along with Mark Scialabba, the former farm director who was promoted after last season.

Watson was with Fredericksburg for a series at Kannapolis in North Carolina and he told Federal Baseball he was impressed with the offense of the Single-A Nationals though they didn’t have a full roster at times during the series.

Randy Knorr, a coach for the Nationals last year, was in Bowie on Tuesday working with Harrisburg catchers. Knorr is now the catching coordinator in player development for Washington.

“This is always a fun series,” Keister told Federal Baseball on Tuesday.

Steven Fuentes is slated to start Friday on the mound for the Senators. He pitched at four levels last year, advancing to Triple-A Rochester.

“He is a sinker, slider guy,” said Keister, who played at the University of Delaware. “He pitches to contact and gets a lot of ground balls.”