(Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
Andrew Heaney was one of the Texas Rangers‘ most important offseason additions.
The spotlight went with Jacob deGrom, but the team needed depth and quality behind him and Heaney, who is coming off a really solid 2022 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, can provide it if healthy.
His career to this point can be best described with three situations: injuries, strikeouts, and homers.
Health has consistently been an obstacle in his career, as have homers.
He allows lots of them.
However, he also has overpowering strikeout stuff, evidenced by his 772 punchouts in 714.2 innings.
That stuff helped him establish a record on Monday.
Andrew Heaney strikes out 9 consecutive batters, tying the American League record!
(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/Jk6Dzw2pw4
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 11, 2023
Nine consecutive strikeouts.
It’s easy to say, but extremely hard to achieve.
In the video, you can see how dominant he was on Monday, a vastly different start from the first one.
He ended up allowing just an unearned run in five innings of work against the Kansas City Royals.
With that, he lowered his season ERA to 8.22.
Yes, he was obliterated in his first turn.
Heaney combined high fastballs with breaking pitches in the dirt as his put-away strategy.
Hitters did not know what was coming, as he gave them two different looks and planes.
His stuff looked amazing on Monday: the fastball had zip and rise, and the breaking ball had really sharp movement.
If the Rangers’ rotation stays (mostly) healthy for the entire season, they could be going places.
That’s a big if, though, as deGrom, Martin Perez, Jon Gray and Heaney have all been known as injury-prone at specific stages of their careers.
For now, enjoy Heaney and his record-setting strikeout prowess.
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