Out
Injury Shoulder
Est. Return 2/1/2026
2024 Stats
W-L
0-0
ERA
3.04
WHIP
0.97
K
27
SV
0
Rest-of-Season Projections
2024 Fantasy Outlook
Hentges missed the first five weeks of the 2023 campaign due to shoulder inflammation. The southpaw racked up seven holds over his first 12 appearances, but saw his ratios balloon with a rough July (14.63 ERA, 2.50 WHIP over eight innings). The 27-year-old had one of the worst hard-hit rates in baseball at 49 percent, but he made up for it with an above-average strikeout rate while inducing plenty of ground balls at a near 60 percent clip. Similar to the 2022 season, Hentges finished the season in dominant fashion, allowing just one earned run over his final 27 appearances while striking out 31 over 25.2 innings. He'll enter 2024 as the Guardians top left-handed reliever. Read Past Outlooks
Slated for shoulder surgery
Hentges will undergo surgery on Sept. 18 to repair the capsule and labrum in his left shoulder, Mandy Bell of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
Hentges is expected to need 12-to-14 months to recover, so it's unlikely he'll be ready to pitch in a game until 2026. The lefty has been excellent since being moved to a full-time relief role in 2022, posting a 2.93 ERA and 155:42 K:BB over 138 innings. Hentges is making $1.16 million in 2024 and will be eligible for salary arbitration for a second time this offseason.
Hentges is expected to need 12-to-14 months to recover, so it's unlikely he'll be ready to pitch in a game until 2026. The lefty has been excellent since being moved to a full-time relief role in 2022, posting a 2.93 ERA and 155:42 K:BB over 138 innings. Hentges is making $1.16 million in 2024 and will be eligible for salary arbitration for a second time this offseason.
Pitching Stats
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2024
2023
2022
2021
Minor League Game Log
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Pitching Appearances Breakdown
Average Pitch Count
14
Last 10 Games
16
Last 5 Games
16
How many pitches does Sam Hentges generally throw?
1-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
71-80
81-90
91-100
101-110
111-120
121+
What part of the game does Sam Hentges generally pitch?
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
Extra
% Games Reaching Innings Threshold
% Games By Number of Innings Pitched
Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2022
-6%
BAA vs LHP
2024
-23%
BAA vs RHP
| BAA | K | BB | H | HR | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since 2022vs Left | .211 | 64 | 9 | 41 | 3 | |||
| Since 2022vs Right | .225 | 91 | 33 | 71 | 5 | |||
| 2024vs Left | .250 | 11 | 1 | 7 | 1 | |||
| 2024vs Right | .193 | 16 | 4 | 11 | 2 | |||
| 2023vs Left | .280 | 19 | 5 | 21 | 2 | |||
| 2023vs Right | .248 | 37 | 13 | 32 | 0 | |||
| 2022vs Left | .143 | 34 | 3 | 13 | 0 | |||
| 2022vs Right | .215 | 38 | 16 | 28 | 3 | |||
| More Splits→ | View More Split Stats | |||||||
Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2022
-26%
ERA at Home
2024
-8%
ERA at Home
| ERA | WHIP | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since 2022Home | 2.53 | 1.02 | 74.2 | 10.6 | 2.7 | ||||
| Since 2022Away | 3.41 | 1.23 | 63.1 | 9.5 | 2.8 | ||||
| 2024Home | 2.92 | 0.97 | 12.1 | 6.6 | 2.9 | ||||
| 2024Away | 3.18 | 0.97 | 11.1 | 14.3 | 0.8 | ||||
| 2023Home | 2.73 | 1.28 | 29.2 | 10.9 | 2.7 | ||||
| 2023Away | 4.76 | 1.46 | 22.2 | 7.9 | 3.6 | ||||
| 2022Home | 2.20 | 0.80 | 32.2 | 11.8 | 2.5 | ||||
| 2022Away | 2.45 | 1.16 | 29.1 | 8.9 | 3.1 | ||||
| More Splits→ | View More Split Stats | ||||||||
Stat Review
How does Sam Hentges compare to other relievers?
This section compares his stats with all relief pitcher seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 30 innings)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 30 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 30 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
K/BB
5.40K/9
10.3BB/9
1.9HR/9
1.1Fastball
95.0 mphERA
3.04WHIP
0.97BABIP
.274GB/FB
1.56Left On Base
79.8%Exit Velocity
82.9 mphBarrels/BBE
3.7%Spin Rate
2278 rpmBalls Hit 95+ MPH
22.0%Swinging Strike
13.1%Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Pitching Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Stats Vs Today's Lineup
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2023 Fantasy Outlook
After struggling during his rookie campaign, Hentges bounced back in a big way. The southpaw became a reliable bullpen arm for Cleveland, adding velocity on all four of his pitches while throwing more sinkers (26% pitch usage compared to 9% in 2021). This led to a 61.5% groundball rate that was one of the highest among relievers. Hentges' strikeout rate (29.4%) also spiked by eight percentage points, while also improving his walk and home run rates. He was especially dominant in the second half, producing a 36:5 K:BB ratio, 0.30 ERA and 0.57 WHIP over his final 29.2 innings. He didn't rack up a ton of holds (eight), but more can be expected in 2023 as Hentges is very clearly the top lefty in the Guardians bullpen. Don't completely dismiss the possibility of a return to the starting rotation, though, as the lefty was brought up as a starter in the minors.
More Fantasy News
Moved to 60-day IL
The Guardians transferred Hentges (shoulder) from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day IL on Monday.
ANALYSIS
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Pulled off rehab assignment
Hentges has been pulled off his rehab assignment due to renewed soreness in his left shoulder, Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
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Starting rehab assignment
Hentges (shoulder) is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus on Tuesday, Chris Assenheimer of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram reports.
ANALYSIS
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On IL with shoulder swelling
The Guardians placed Hentges on the 15-day injured list Friday due to left shoulder inflammation, Joe Noga of The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
ANALYSIS
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Back from paternity leave
The Guardians activated Hentges from the paternity list Thursday.
ANALYSIS
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