OF Will Henderson signed as undrafted free agent by Atlanta Braves $150,000

Hometown: Mississauga, Ont.

Born: Hamilton, Ont.

Height/Weight: 6’ 1” 185 lbs.

Bats/Throws: R-R.

Team: FieldHouse Pirates, Junior National Team.

Coaches: Jimmy Richardson, Greg Hamilton.

Committed: Utah.

Scout: Tucker Meredith.

Previous teams: Canadian Premier, Mississauga Majors, Mississauga Southwest Twins, Erindale Cardinals.

Previous coaches: Jamie Romak, Ron Burke, Corey Henderson, Kevin Challenger.

Sidelined by surgery: Henderson broke the hamate bone in his left hand in March swinging a bat which required surgery. “It sucked not having an opportunity to have an effect on the game. You sat there and hoped we won. I couldn’t put weight on my back. I couldn’t run. If I made any fast movements, I was afraid my hand would bleed. The doctor put stitches on my palm underneath the pinky finger. I missed the draft and the opportunity to be drafted ... basically I was out from March to July. Then, when I returned I could only bunt.”

Spring of 2026 with FieldHouse Pirates: Batted .404 (19-for-46) with three doubles, a homer, 11 RBIs and went 19-for-21 stealing bases. In 18 games he had a 1.064 OPS ... Perfect Game Youth Tournament Champion at 18U Perfect Game National Championship in at Thames Centre.

Spring of 2026 with Junior National Team: Batted .250 (2-for-8) with two steals.

Spring of 2025 with FieldHouse Pirates: Batted .346 (50-for-145) in 51 games with five doubles, four triples and six homers. Had a 1.025 OPS and slugged .559 in 51 games. The speedster was 30-for-34 stealing bases.

Blue Jays Canadian Futures Series in Vancouver in 2026: Batted .333 (3-for-9) with a triple, an inside-the-park home run and six walks. He had nine stolen bases and a 1.540 OPS in five games.

Good Genes: “My mother, Debbie didn’t play sports, but my father Corey used to play baseball in Hamilton, as well as competing in track and field.”

The most influential person in my baseball life: “My dad, Corey. He’s been the driving force on my path. As cliche as it is, he would always say ‘never give up, put your blind faith in hope.’ For me being with the Mississauga Southwest Twins, I never thought I’d get drafted. He always told me ‘keep doing it’ back when I was starting out.”

The most influential person in my baseball life, not a part of my family: “Robert Omidi (drafted in the eighth round by the Detroit Tigers). He introduced to me FieldHouse when I was with the Mississauga Majors. We would go to FieldHouse for four hours every day to work out. He was probably most essential in development. And coach Jimmy Richardson helped me get to the Futures Showcase three years in a row. He has more say than most CPBL coaches. (It was Henderson’s third trip to the Futures.)”

Comparing Nat Bailey to Rogers Centre: “It wasn’t a big league field, but it was definitely one of the nicer fields I’ve ever been to. It was a cool stadium. They had bleachers in left field and lots of signs on the outfield fences.”

Best day on the ball field: “The game before I signed we faced Cam Anderson, who was ‘en fuego’ (93 MPH). I hit a triple up the middle with an exit velocity of 103 MPH. Next at-bat he had me 0-2 and I worked a walk, then stole second and stole third. Then facing Oscar Leah, I had a five-pitch walk, stole, made a good catch in centre. And in my final at-bat I hit an inside-the-park homer. The ball hit off the bottom of the wall in right centre ... (coach) Adam Stern waved me home. It was a 2-0 count and our first base coach said we should go hacking at 3-0 pitches.”

Favourite player when you discovered baseball: “Josh Donaldson. I was there for his MVP season (2015). I used to play shortstop and always cheered for the Blue Jays.”

Written on the bedroom wall: “I have a picture of Greg Maddux (former Brave and a four-time Cy Young award winner) hanging on my wall.”

Favourite player today: “Pete Crow-Armstrong. He has every tool you could want. He can steal, he can run, he can hit for average, hit for power and can field.”

Interested teams: Blue Jays, Brewers, Dodgers.

Honours: 2025 with FieldHouse Pirates: All-tournament team 18U Perfect Game National Tour at Thames Centre.

A stands for Active and Atlanta: Besides signing the top Canuck OF Carter Beck (Carnduff, Sask.) in the first round — 26th overall — from Indiana State, the Braves drafted and signed 13th rounder RHP Cole Dorland (Langley, BC of the Langley Blaze and the Junior National Team), plus Henderson.

Scouting report

“I didn’t see him hit, but there is a lot of interest there. He walked and every scout pulled out their videos. He could run for a track club off what I saw.”

_ Veteran scout.