Snake Bytes 3/9: Oh Henry!

Diamondbacks News:

[SI] Tommy Henry finds his groove against the Rangers

With the competition heating up for the final starting rotation spot, left-hander Tommy Henry needed to have a quality start against the Texas Rangers. The 25-year-old did just that, holding the Rangers scoreless for four innings on three hits, no walks, and three strikeouts on 56 pitches in a 2-0 win.

[MLB] Henry spot-on to in bid to make Diamondbacks rotation

“I feel like I’ve kind of been saying it after each outing, but a little bit better than the last one,” Henry said. “And that’s the whole point of it for me is to keep building to keep competing, and try and get your feet under yourself a little bit more each time. And I think I’ll be in a good spot by the end of Spring Training.”

[CBS] Ryne Nelson throws B game

The outing was Nelson’s third Cactus League start, and he’s allowed multiple runs in all three, although this third outing was the best of the lot.

[AZC] Diamondbacks refute ‘bush league’ comments from Giants’ Jon Miller

“It is unfortunate that he took this perspective,” the statement read. “A member of our PR staff, in fact, was on site and on hand for any questions, and we provided the press box with our standard collateral as we always do.

[FOX] MLB 26-and-under power rankings: No. 12 - Arizona Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks have an entire outfield’s worth of veritable young talent. Truthfully, they had more than an entire outfield’s worth, so they traded the most established of the bunch, Daulton Varsho, to Toronto and received an elite prospect, catcher Gabriel Moreno, in exchange.

[CBS] Pavin Smith weekend return expected

Smith missed the last few days after experiencing back spams.

Baseball News:

[SI] MLB holds steady on pitch timer thresholds despite some blowback

While MLB tweaks its pitch timer rules “on a daily basis” based on feedback from spring training games, it does not plan to adjust its two major thresholds: 15 seconds with the bases empty and 20 seconds with runners.

[MLBTR] Tony Gonsolin’s availability for opening day in question

Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin suffered a left ankle sprain during a pitcher-fielding practice on Monday. The club has downplayed the injury’s longer-term severity, but manager Dave Roberts indicated this evening the right-hander wasn’t in great position for Opening Day (via Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic and Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times).

White Sox’ Mike Clevinger feels ‘weight lifted’ after MLB investigation ends

“I’m just thankful for the due process playing out the way it is and the truth getting out there,” Clevinger said.

“It was a trying time. I’m just lucky to have the right people in my corner. I got, you know, my family behind me. You know, my agency has been through me with this. The White Sox have been there every step of the way. And of course, my teammates.”

[TJP] Baseball star Darryl Strawberry turns pro-Israel evangelical preacher

Strawberry, an eight-time MLB All-Star-turned-traveling-preacher, will be a panelist on Thursday at Extending the Branches of Zionism, an event taking place in New York City and organized by the Jewish National Fund-USA focused on support for Israel among non-Jews.