THEN MARCH 2016: Started for Florence and went five innings, allowing four runs on six hits and four walks while striking out five. He struggled with his control, throwing just 56 of 100 pitches for strikes. Despite the line, Henry was impressive. He has a big frame, standing at 6-foot-4, 195 pounds and showed some of the best stuff of the event. His fastball was 89-92, touching 93, and occasionally showed late, diving action. He showed good feel for a mid-80s changeup and his curveball had 11/5 shape and depth at 74-77.

 

NOW 2020 DRAFT: Long frame with athleticism at 6-foot-4, 210 pounds. Still has some projection in body-frame could easily hold 10 more lbs. Simple, medium effort delivery with repeatable movement patterns. Punched out eight in four innings with most swings and misses coming off his fastball and changeup. His heater is downhill with consistent arm side action getting multiple swings and misses. Curveball showed good 11/5 shape with bite and depth. Showed the curve for strikes and buried, but it also backed up at times. Changeup plays off of the fastball. Effective vs. both LHH and RHH with true feel for the pitch. Good athlete. Average pick off move. Overall, it's all there; good stuff with feel to pitch. Top round prospect in this year's draft as a sophomore-eligible.

 

HOW THE JUMP WAS MADE: “I think with Cole, it’s been the maturity of pitching in the level of play each weekend, of the competition that he’s been facing each and every weekend, of learning what it takes to bring your "A" game in that environment. He’s really understood it’s going to that next level every single weekend, but what comes with that is what you have to do days one, two, three, four, five and six in preparation for that seventh day. And then I think you look at his stuff. I think the changeup has taken a tick up, with not only action, but confidence and feel. I think the fastball has taken a tick up as well, whether it's the two or four-seamer, how he can manipulate the zone with those two pitches. And probably the pitch that this year was probably was a little behind, was his breaking ball, just in terms for the first four starts, we just couldn’t quite, it wasn’t hitting on that release point. Just hadn’t quite found that slot yet. So you’d see flashes of it being really good, and then you’d see him pop it out. We were really spending a lot of time trying to get that pitch, and I felt like right before we got shut down, we were heading to Ole Miss, and that was week was the best bullpen. It was all lining up. I could see it starting to...I felt like we were about to go on a run where he was going to be locked in and you’d see him take it every Friday night.
--Alan Dunn, LSU Pitching Coach