Ixan Henderson was locked in a pitchers’ duel with Amarillo starter Spencer Giesting on Tuesday night at Hammons Field. With a runner on and one out in the fourth inning, Sod Poodles’ outfielder Jack Hurley worked a full count, then spoiled the sixth pitch of the at-bat. Springfield’s southpaw toed the rubber, and wearing the Spanish-theme powder blue Cardenales jersey, he delivered a little spice.
Photo by PJ Maigi | Springfield Cardinals
Henderson rifled a fastball that ran up and into Hurley’s kitchen and the left-handed hitter went down swinging. Henderson added two more impressive outings to a breakout 2025 campaign – he tossed 10 2/3 innings over two starts in the homestand against Amarillo, yielding three earned runs while striking out 13 and picking up the win in Springfield’s 6-1 victory on Sunday.
Ixan (pronounced EE-shawn) earned St. Louis Minor League Pitcher of the Month honors in April, and the encore in May is even better. Henderson sports a 1.62 ERA and 0.90 WHIP with 21 strikeouts over 16.2 innings, and Texas League opposition is hitting for a meager .200 average. The Cards’ 8th-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft has allowed just three walks in as many starts this month.
Henderson won the battle with Hurley on Tuesday with high heat, a pitch Ixan is setting up with devastating effect.
Heater up and in to the lefty from Ixan Henderson for a strikeout pic.twitter.com/rPfskUo3o1
— Kyle Reis, 58% Neanderthal (@kyler416) May 14, 2025
“It feels like it’s clicking, my mechanics are clean right now – the fastball is coming out pretty good and the results kind of show that,” Henderson said.
“There are some guys where you can see they don’t really see the fastball, or if you start them off slower earlier in the AB, they could be susceptible to a high fastball after something like a landed curveball or changeup in the zone, something to tunnel off that fastball. So, setting up tunnels early to finish with the fastball late…it’s a tunnel game, it’s a sequence game, I mean, it’s fun right now.”
“It’s to what his strengths are. There’s a lot of information that we can gather from the action of pitches, the velocities and spin rates – certain things that come out of the hand for certain guys that are really good for them. It plays well when (Ixan) can elevate the fastball to the top part of the strike zone,” Springfield manager Patrick Anderson said. Anderson managed Henderson in High-A last year, and he said Henderson’s fastball execution is a difference maker.
“He came up to (Peoria) last year and his fastball command wasn’t as good, and then he had an opportunity to go to the (Arizona) Fall League and I really think he turned a corner in regards to understanding that he’s able to do certain things – and honed in on some fastball command, with his breaking ball, a little more sharpness to his quality of pitches,” he said.
Henderson was an ace at Fresno State, and he leads Springfield’s staff with 36 innings pitched in seven starts, but he could profile as a bullpen weapon as he’s especially tough on left-handed hitters, holding southpaws to a .170 average and 0.82 WHIP this spring.
With clean mechanics and dynamic pitches producing consistent results, Henderson is focused on the mental art of pitching.
“The best execute at the highest level and I want to do that, so I have to execute at an even higher level,” Henderson said. “Just learning, learning this game – its different at each level, but it’s the same.”
