In his final regular-season start, Cardinals top pitching prospect Tink Hence completed 1 1/3 innings on 29 pitches (15 strikes) for Class AA Springfield. Hence, 22, allowed one hit and struck out one batter before he exited early for what appeared to be an injury during Springfield’s 2-1 win over San Antonio.
Following a 22-pitch first inning, Hence began the second inning by throwing two balls to Marcos Castanon. He got Castanon to ground out on the third pitch of the at-bat. Against Juan Zabala, the last batter Hence faced, the Cardinals prospect missed the strike zone with all four pitches he threw. Four of the last six pitches he threw to Castanon and Zabala bounced in the dirt.
Hence was met on the mound by catcher Jimmy Crooks and the rest of the Springfield infield after the walk to Zabala. Manager Jose Leger and Springfield athletic trainer Alex Wolfinger joined the meeting on the mound to check on Hence. Hence walked off the mound with Wolfinger after the brief mound visit.
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The reason for Hence’s early exit was not clear as of Wednesday night.
Before Hence’s early exit against San Antonio, Hence had steadily rebuilt his workload after a monthlong gap in pitching because of fatigue and back discomfort he first experienced in June. The righty had totaled 23 2/3 innings in seven outings before Wednesday. He completed four innings in three of his previous four outings and upped his pitch count to 72 pitches on Sept. 4.
Hence posted a 1.52 ERA, struck out 35 batters, and kept opposing hitters to a .163 batting average as he gradually increased his workload after his gap in starts.
Here are other Cardinals prospect performances from Wednesday:
Catcher Jimmy Crooks, Class AA Springfield: As a part of a Springfield win that set a franchise record in wins with 78, Crooks went two-for-three with an RBI and a run scored. The S-Cards’ starting catcher singled in the first inning and provided Springfield with its first run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Dakota Harris, who walked to lead off the frame. Crooks doubled to left field to leadoff the sixth inning and scored two at-bats later when Chase Davis grounded into a force out. The two-hit game lifted Crooks’ average to .325 and on-base plus slugging percentage to .920 in 88 games.
Outfielder Chase Davis, Class AA Springfield: Davis, the Cardinals’ first round pick in the 2023 MLB draft, went one-for-three with a single and two stolen bases as Springfield’s starting center fielder. The two stolen bases give the 22-year-old Davis three in four games since making his Class AA debut. He is three-for-three on steal attempts. In the third inning, Davis robbed San Antonio’s Romeo Sanabria of extra bases and an additional RBI with a head-first, Superman-esque diving catch on a fly ball toward the left-center field gap. Davis’s highlight-reel catch led Lucas Dunn to tag up and score from third base but prevented Ripken Reyes from advancing from second base.
Outfielder Matt Koperniak, Class AAA Memphis: The former undrafted free agent went four-for-five with a home run and three singles to give him his 13th game with three or more hits this season. The four-hit performance improved Koperniak to a .310 batting average, a .369 on-base percentage, and a .513 slugging percentage in 114 games. Koperniak, 26, has slashed .346/.393/.615 in seven games since the start of September. Three of Koperniak’s four hits in Memphis’s 6-3 win over Nashville had exit velocities above 100 mph, per Statcast. His home run jumped of his bat at 105.7 mph and traveled 363 feet to right field. It was his 19th home run of the season, which set a career high for a season for the 26-year-old.