David Hensley #8

Earned three varsity baseball letters at Patrick Henry High School in San Diego, Calif., graduating in 2014.... was his team’s captain all three seasons...earned all-CIF and team MVP honors as a senior...also played football during his sophomore and junior years...went undrafted out of high school...Went on to attend San Diego State, where he played four seasons (2015-18) with a career batting average of .312...had a strong junior year, hitting .357 with an .895 OPS, but to his surprise, went undrafted in 2017... in his senior year of 2018, he hit .317 (76x240) with 14 doubles, three homers and 34 RBI...Drafted by Houston in the 26th round of the June 2018 draft...signed by Astros scout Ryan Leake...After two years in the Astros Minor League system (2018-19), was out of work in 2020 with the cancellation of the minor league season...following minor league camp that year, returned to California and worked 40 hours a week at a marble and tile warehouse...would work in the mornings, with the workday starting at 5:30 a.m., and workout in the afternoons...Hensley credits this job, along with his afternoon weight training sessions, with really improving his strength heading into the 2021 season... he responding by recording 37 extra-base hits in 2021, compared to just 20 in 2019...Posted a .420 OBP in 2022, which was a huge jump over his .369 OBP in 2021...credits this uptick to the usage of the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system in use at the Triple A level...Hensley says the repetition of using a consistent strike zone helped him establish a definitive line of what was a strike and what was not...Received his first invite to Major League Spring Training last season and added to the Astros 40-man roster on Aug. 20, 2022...is currently signed to a one-year contract for the 2023 campaign.

2023

Utility man opened the season on the Astros roster and made three separate Major League stints throughout the year...Batted .119 (10x84) with a home run and three RBI in 30 games...Made appearances at DH (11g), 2B (9g), 1B (5g), 3B (1g) and LF (2g) with the Astros this season...Hit his lone home run of the season and the second home run of his career on May 8 at LAA...The homer marked the 8,000th in franchise history...Made his first career Opening Day roster this year after ending the ‘22 campaign in the Majors...Was optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land on May 20...Was recalled on July 6 and optioned back to Triple-A Sugar Land on July 26...Was recalled on Aug. 12 and optioned back to Triple-A Sugar Land on Aug. 23...Hit .220 (52x236) with six home runs, 36 RBI and a .721 OPS in 65 games with Triple-A Sugar Land...Spent the 2023 postseason with the Major League team as a member of the club’s taxi squad.

2022

Finished his first Major League season batting .345 (10x29) with two doubles, one triple, one home run, five RBI and a 1.027 OPS (.441 OBP/.586 SLG)...Spent the majority of the year at Triple A, where he hit .298 (113x379) with 30 doubles, 10 homers, 57 RBI, a . 420 OBP and an .898 OPS in 104 games... named a Pacific Coast League Postseason ALLSTAR and an MiLB.com Organizational All-Star...Selected from Triple A Sugar Land on Aug. 20...On Aug. 28 vs. BAL, recorded his first career hit, a double, off RHP Austin Voth...on Sept. 27 vs. ARI, recorded his first career homer (RHP Ian Kennedy)...Appeared in four Postseason games, batting .250 (2x8) with a HBP....made two starts, both coming at DH in Games 3 and 5 of the World Series... when he started Game 3, he had the third-fewest regular season plate appearances (34) than any position player starter in World Series history...the only guys with fewer: Jack Sheehan for Brooklyn (6) in 1920 and Buddy Myer (8) for Washington in 1925.

2021

Was named the 2021 Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks Player of the Year after hitting .293 (116x396) with 25 doubles, nine homers, 51 RBI, 11 stolen bases, a .369 OBP and an .808 OPS in 105 games... ranked among league leaders in average (4th, .293), doubles (4th, 25), hits (4th, .116) and OBP (9th, .369)...in his Double-A debut, hit the team’s first home run of the season on Opening Night at Whataburger Field...two games later, he recorded his first career multi-homer game to lead the Hooks to victory...the high note of Hensley’s season came May 21, when he hit a dramatic two-run walk-off home run in the 11th inning to beat Arkansas...also had a pair of 18-game on-base streaks: May 18-June 9 and July 10-Aug. 4...started 46 games at second base, 35 games at shortstop, 17 games at third and nine games at first...following the season, played for Santurce in the Puerto Rican Winter League, hitting .345 (20x58) with two doubles, five RBI and a .794 OPS in 16 games.

2020

Did not appear in a regular season game in 2020 do to the cancellation of the minor league season.

2019

Split his 2019 season between Class A Quad Cities (80g) and Class A Fayetteville (28g), combining to hit .260 (101x388) with 22 doubles, six homers, 46 RBI and 11 stolen bases...promoted to Fayetteville in August, where he excelled to hit .327 (32x98) with an .826 OPS in 28 games.

2018

Made his professional debut for Quad Cities in 2018, appearing in 63 games.