Injuries are part of the grind in baseball, and while the St. Louis Cardinals managed to keep their big-league pitching staff mostly intact in 2025, their farm system wasn’t quite as lucky. Now, as spring camp gets underway, another promising young arm has hit a setback - and this one stings.
Left-hander Ixan Henderson, one of the breakout performers in the Cardinals’ system last season, has been shut down from throwing due to a left flexor strain. It’s the first reported injury from Cardinals camp this year, and while the full scope of the issue isn’t yet known, it’s not the kind of news you want to hear about a rising prospect just as the season ramps up.
Henderson, who turned 24 at the end of January, made serious noise in 2025 with Double-A Springfield, where he posted a 2.59 ERA and struck out 25.2% of batters across 25 starts. That kind of production didn’t just turn heads - it launched him into Baseball America’s top 10 Cardinals prospects heading into 2026. There was real buzz around his potential as a future back-end starter in the big leagues.
And there was good reason for that. Henderson showed the kind of consistency and poise on the mound that scouts love to see at the Double-A level.
His ability to mix pitches and keep hitters off balance made him one of the more reliable arms in the system. Had it not been for Brycen Mautz’s own stellar season, Henderson might’ve walked away with the organization’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year honors.
This year was shaping up to be a pivotal one for Henderson. Not only was he expected to open the season at Triple-A, where he’d face more advanced hitters and get a chance to prove he can handle that next level of competition, but he’s also Rule 5 Draft eligible come December. That means the Cardinals will have to make a decision on whether to protect him on the 40-man roster, and how he performs this season would have played a big role in that call.
Now, with this flexor strain, that timeline could be in flux. And while it’s too early to say how long he’ll be sidelined, any missed time in a year this important is a tough blow - both for Henderson and for a Cardinals system that’s already dealing with its share of pitching injuries.
He joins a growing list of arms already on the mend heading into camp, including Tekoah Roby, Cooper Hjerpe, Sem Robberse, Brandon Clarke, and Bryan Holliday. And that’s not even counting guys like Quinn Mathews or Tink Hence, who had their own injury issues last season.
This is the challenge the Cardinals - and really, every team - face when they lean into drafting and developing high-upside arms. The potential is there, no doubt, but so is the risk.
Pitchers with big stuff often come with big injury histories or durability questions. It’s a necessary gamble in today’s game, where elite pitching is at a premium, but it means clubs have to stockpile arms and hope enough of them stay healthy to make an impact.
For Henderson, the hope is that this is just a minor hiccup - a temporary pause before he gets back on the mound and continues building on what was a standout 2025. But for now, the Cardinals will have to wait and see, and hope that one of their most promising young pitchers can bounce back quickly.