Cincinnati used their 14th round draft pick in 2023 to select Kyle Henley out of Denmark High School in Alpharetta, Georgia. With the late draft he was only able to play in four games after being selected before the season came to an end.
This article was first sent out to those who support the site over on Patreon. Early access is one of the perks that you could get be joining up as a Patron and supporting the work done here at RedsMinorLeagues.com.
When the Arizona Complex League season began in early May, the Cincinnati Reds had Kyle Henley on the squad and in center field. He went 1-4 with a walk, two runs, and an RBI in his season debut. The next game saw him double twice, drive in another run, and he would pick up his first stolen base of the season. After going 0-3 two days later, he would put together four 2-hit games in his next six games, but he also struck out in each game as he piled but both hits and strikeouts during the opening month. When May ended he had 17 hits in 61 at-bats, but also had 25 strikeouts. Where Henley had really stood out, though, was going 11-for-11 on stolen base attempts.
June didn’t start out well as the outfielder went 2-15 in the first four games of the month. He picked things up from there, though. From June 7th through the 19th he played in nine games and went 12-36 with two doubles and two triples. Henley also stole 13 more bases without being caught. On June 25th he went 3-4, but for the first time in his career he was caught stealing. It was his 29th attempted steal of his career. While he was caught stealing that night, that game kicked off a hot streak that saw him hit .404 through the next 12 games. In the final two weeks of the ACL Reds season, Henley slumped and hit just .189.
After more than a month of non-official games in Arizona after the regular season ended on July 25th, Cincinnati promoted Kyle Henley to join Single-A Daytona for the final two weeks of the regular season. He only played in four games, going 1-9 with a walk, steal, and two runs batted in.
For all 2024 Season Reviews and Scouting Reports – click here (these will come out during the week throughout the offseason).
Kyle Henley Scouting Report
Position: Outfielder | B/T: R/R
Height: 6′ 2 | Weight: 180 lbs. | Acquired: 14th Round (2023) | Born: December 15, 2004
In 2024 there were two things that stood out on the stats sheet for Kyle Henley. The first was that he stole 36 bases and was caught just three times in what was essentially half of a season of playing time. The other was that he struck out 33.5% of the time he stepped to the plate.
The speed is something we knew about when he was drafted as he was considered among the fastest players in the draft in 2023. So were the questions about how much contact he could make and how he could read non-fastballs. Both things continued to show up in 2024.
At the plate in 2024 he rarely pulled the ball and he went up the middle and the other way a lot. He did show a little bit of power to all fields and there is some power in there as he can hit the ball hard already and has room to fill out his frame and get stronger over the next few years which could allow him to get even more power down the line. He will likely have to start pulling the ball more to get the most from his power potential, though.
The most important thing, though, is that he’s going to have to make more contact. While it’s possible, and maybe even likely that he could carry higher BABIP’s thanks to both his speed and ability to hit the ball hard, a strikeout rate above 30% in rookie ball usually leads to even higher rates in full-season leagues.
While we covered how well his speed played on the bases, we haven’t covered how well it plays in the field. As you would expect, though, it plays well. He can cover plenty of ground in center and could be a plus defensive player at the position.
There’s plenty of risk here because of the contact issues, but the upside is quite high here, too. If he can make more contact there’s a chance for a guy with elite speed on the bases, a very strong defender at a premium position, and above-average power.
Stats
Spray Charts
Interesting Stat on Kyle Henley
He hit .273 against both the left-handed pitchers and right-handed pitchers. But batting average is where the comparisons end. He walked just twice against lefties (.304 on-base percentage) while he had 21 against righties (.379 on-base percentage). Henley slugged .477 against lefties but just .372 against righties.