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By Rob Rains<\/p>\n
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. \u2013 This was supposed to be a big year for Tink Hence, one of the top pitching prospects in the Cardinals\u2019 organization, a chance for him to show that he was on the verge of being ready to pitch in the major leagues.<\/p>\n
Instead, it\u2019s been one of the longest, most frustrating years in Hence\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating, but you can\u2019t wear that on you every day,\u201d Hence said. \u201cAll you can do is keep moving forward. \u2026 I\u2019m just trying to stay in good spirits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still believe in myself. I know what type of pitcher I am. I know when I am healthy what I am going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hence, who celebrated his 23rd birthday on Aug. 6, began the season on the 60-day injured list. That move was designed at least in part to give Hence time to work on some changes in his mechanics that the organization wanted to see as much as it was because of an injury.<\/p>\n
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A slow ramp-up followed, with five rehab starts in the lower levels of the farm system before Hence made his first start for Springfield on June 20. He worked 4 1\/3 innings of what turned out to be a combined no-hitter against Corpus Christi.<\/p>\n
What followed were just two more starts, with Hence pitching a combined 6 1\/3 innings, before he returned to the injured list after the start on July 3. The latest injury has been described as inflammation in his right shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went through the build up to get in a grove and the next thing you know something else starts to bother you,\u201d Hence said. \u201cHere I am again right now trying to get back on the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing through all of this is not fun, when you are not able to go out and be my best, but I just have to keep working. That\u2019s all I can do. It might feel like, \u2018Dang, it\u2019s not going to get any better,\u2019 but you have to trust that eventually it will. \u2026 You just have to keep believing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hence is working on strengthening his shoulder and has had a couple of recent side sessions in the bullpen which were encouraging. He is scheduled to throw another bullpen, then live batting practice next week. From there, it will be a matter of \u201cassess and adjust,\u201d according to Rob Cerfolio, assistant general manager and director of player development.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to commit to much more than that,\u201d Cerfolio said in a text message. \u201cAssess and adjust each time he throws.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal, for both Hence and the organization, is to get him back on the mound before the end of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to go out and pitch and have fun and feel good,\u201d Hence said. \u201cI am just trying to work through it and pushing myself each and every day to get over that hump. After starting off the season on the IL it\u2019s been a consistent battle the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hence, who was the Cardinals\u2019 second-round pick in the 2020 draft, has never thrown more than 96 innings in a season, which he did in 2023, when he made 23 starts combined between Peoria and Springfield.<\/p>\n
He started 20 games last season, all for Springfield, holding opponents to a .204 batting average while striking out 109 batters in 79 2\/3 innings, earning him praise as not only one of the Cardinals\u2019 best pitching prospects but one of the best in the game.<\/p>\n
The injury setbacks this season have limited him to a combined 21 1\/3 innings, including his rehab starts, and again raised concern among some skeptics that Hence just might be injury-prone.<\/p>\n
Hence doesn\u2019t pay attention to those comments.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s going to have their own opinion,\u201d Hence said. \u201cYou can see everything all over the Internet. It\u2019s just part of it. People are going to doubt, people are going to give up \u2026 Everybody doesn\u2019t like a guy who\u2019s not playing.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut people don\u2019t see the inside. They don\u2019t know you are working, that\u2019s the biggest thing. I just want to feel 100 percent and feel good and be on the field. You never want to get too down with what I\u2019m going through because somebody else is going through the same thing if not worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my eyes I feel like I am wasting time, wasting a year, but who am I to control that or to judge myself? In my eyes I\u2019m holding myself back but I can only do so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hence knows that two of the organization\u2019s best pitching prospects, Tekoah Roby and Cooper Hjerpe, have undergone Tommy John surgery this year and could miss most of next season as well while they are recovering.<\/p>\n
None of Hence\u2019s injuries have required surgery and none have been to his elbow, which he knows is the best part of everything he has experienced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to learn more and more so eventually I won\u2019t have to keep going through this,\u201d Hence said.<\/p>\n
There is just over a month left in Springfield\u2019s regular-season and the team already has clinched a spot in the playoffs as the first half champion in the Texas League\u2019s northern division. Their win on Wednesday night was their seventh in a row and improved their overall record this year to 71-39, one of the records in the minor leagues.<\/p>\n
Even though he hasn\u2019t been able to contribute to many of those wins, Hence said he is enjoying being on such a successful team \u2013 and hopeful there is still time for him to play a role in that success.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m enjoying being here, even though I haven\u2019t been playing like I want,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully I will be able to get back out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Springfield manager Patrick Anderson believes that will happen, based on what he has seen from Hence in his recent workouts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel bad for him but mentally he\u2019s grinding through it,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to get him on the mend. His arm is starting to come back really good, knock on wood. He\u2019s going to throw another bullpen, then a couple of lives, and we will see where he is. We want him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Follow Rob Rains on X @RobRains<\/p>\n
Photo courtesy of Springfield Cardinals<\/p>\n
The post Cardinals\u2019 pitching prospect Tink Hence enduring \u2018frustrating\u2019 year, working to get back on mound before season ends<\/a> appeared first on News from Rob Rains, STLSportsPage.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Rob Rains SPRINGFIELD, Mo. \u2013 This was supposed to be a big year for Tink Hence, one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2403],"tags":[5,160,4,185,673,67,4311,4310,31512],"class_list":{"0":"post-249156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-cardinals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cardinals","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-st-louis","13":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","14":"tag-stlouis","15":"tag-stlouiscardinals","16":"tag-stlsportspage"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115031476416949560","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}