Brewers prospect won't be late again after this prank

This story was excerpted from Adam McCalvy’s Brewers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

MILWAUKEE -- Logan Henderson found a letter from the MLB Commissioner’s Office on the chair in front of his locker at PNC Park over the weekend. It came after the 23-year-old Brewers starter had been a tick late getting to the mound for his start against the Orioles in Milwaukee and didn’t deliver the first pitch until 6:42 p.m. CT -- two minutes behind schedule.

That’s a $5,000 fine, the letter explained.

“I’d been in the big leagues maybe 10-11 days at that point, so it hit hard,” Henderson said.

It was a prank, of course, the sort of thing teammates and coaches don’t pull on a player unless they really like him and know he can take it. Like when then-Brewers bench coach Pat Murphy had first-round Draft pick Sal Frelick convinced that Murphy was the team’s “video guy” for much of Frelick’s first Spring Training. Or how Murphy repeatedly sent pitcher Aaron Ashby hustling to the clubhouse to put on his spikes for a pinch-running opportunity that was never going to come.

The Brewers optioned Henderson -- their No. 12 prospect -- back to Triple-A on Monday, but they know he’ll be back. He’s 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA through his first four Major League starts and is a significant part of the organization's future plans.

And for two days leading up to his Sunday start against the Pirates at PNC Park, he was very much on the hook.

“I was more defeated than anything,” Henderson said. “I knew I started late, but I was thinking, [$5,000] is pretty steep.”

Henderson started asking around. He was legitimately late, after all, or at least pushing it close, for both his start at home against the Orioles on May 20 and the start before that on May 14 at Cleveland. That’s partly a matter of logistics. Major League ballparks are simply bigger than the fields in the Minors, and the timing of the National Anthem varies from park to park. Those very small things require subtle adjustments to a starting pitcher’s pregame routine, which is customized down to the minute.

And while pitching coaches Chris Hook and Jim Henderson had the option of simply saying that to Logan Henderson -- stressing the importance of adding a buffer for the snapped shoelace here or there, or the last-minute bathroom break -- they also decided to have a little fun.

“The best was when he went to Murph,” Henderson said. “Murph is the master of that stuff.”

Hook instructed Logan Henderson to write a letter to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred asking for relief. Henderson dutifully set up a Google Doc and planned to sit down to write on Saturday night.

But rather than have him worrying about that on that the eve of a start, Hook pulled Henderson aside on Saturday afternoon and let him in on the joke.

“He’s such a cerebral kid and his level of preparation is really high,” Hook said. “He knows his routine and when you make him aware of deficiencies, he’s really quick to fill those in. There’s a level of awareness to, ‘Hey, I need to get better at this.’ And he’s 23, so he’s on the younger end of the youngest guys here.

“He’s just been really, really good.”

It came as no surprise to anyone that Henderson handled being punk’d like a pro. He’s eager to pay it forward once he gets back to the big leagues, which will probably be soon.

“It was a really cool welcome to the team,” Henderson said. “It’s all love between the guys and the coaches. Hopefully when one of the rookies comes up next time, I can be in on something like that.”