Payton Henry was taking ground balls as an 8-year-old second baseman during a practice with his local youth baseball team in Utah, when his father, Darrin, and other coaches came to him with a suggestion that really was not up for debate.
Henry was asked to put on the catcher’s equipment.
“The rest of practice they geared me up, threw balls at me,” Henry said. “I was crying, hated it.”
Two years later, Henry fell in love with the position and the rest is history.
Henry was a standout backstop for Pleasant Grove High School before being drafted by the Brewers in the sixth round. He made his major league debut on Sept. 17, 2021, with the Marlins.
The 27-year-old now is catcher insurance in his first season in the Phillies organization with the Triple-A IronPigs.
Henry didn’t agree with his father on that fateful day nearly two decades ago. They didn’t always see eye to eye, like most father-son coaching relationships. But like a fine wine, it has matured into something immeasurably valuable.
“My dad is my best friend, no doubt,” he said. “We’re more like homies than dad and son. That’s the way we both like it.”
Henry and his dad are starting their Father’s Day celebration a day late when Darrin Henry flies to the СŷƵ from Utah on Monday and staying for the home series against the Rochester Red Wings.
The 6-foot-1, 229-pounder is batting .265 with three home runs and 21 RBIs in 23 games this season, including the game-winning, two-run double in Friday night’s СŷƵ victory.
His family is deep rooted in sports.
Grandfather Darold Henry went to Brigham Young on a wrestling scholarship. He also was a Golden Gloves Boxing Champion, a state track champion and an alternate on the 1968 Olympic Wrestling team. He then went to Pleasant Grove High where he built a wrestling dynasty. He was elected into the state wrestling hall of fame three times – as a wrestler, coach and NCAA referee. He passed away in 2022.
Father Darrin Henry was a two-time state wrestling champion who also played baseball. He later played on the national fastpitch softball circuit before becoming Pleasant Grove’s head baseball coach when Payton was in seventh grade.
Payton Henry wrestled and played football until high school. That’s when he locked in on baseball. That’s when the relationship with his father took off.
“Our relationship is great,” Henry said. “We train together in the offseason every day. He’s still my hitting coach. I go back to him, and he gets me right. If something is wrong, I give him a call. He tries to stay hands off with stuff like that, but I’m like, ‘Dad, tell me what’s going on.’
“He tells me one thing, and it changes. He’s watched I don’t know how many of my swings.”
Darrin Henry just finished coaching his youngest son, Mason, in high school. Mason Henry has committed to pitch at Arizona State.
By the time Payton Henry was done with high school, he loved being a catcher. It started when he was 10, when his father bought him a new set of catching gear and glove.
“It made me feel tough,” he recalled. “I love being part of every play. I’d be bored otherwise. It was a blessing for me. I had to find a way to get really good.”
Life is good now for the Henry family after a challenging three-year stretch that started on Jan. 21, 2022, when Darold Henry suffered a fatal heart attack.
Then on May 31, 2024, Payton Henry suffered a serious head injury while catching for the Buffalo Bisons in a game at Syracuse.
Mets infielder Pablo Reyes swung and missed on the first pitch he saw from Bisons pitcher Connor Cooke in the seventh inning. But Reyes’ backswing made flush contact with Henry behind his left ear.
“That put me out,” Henry recalled. “It was a really bad one. It was scary. It was one of those deals where I did not know if I was going to play again. I was seizing out on field.”
Henry spent that night in a Syracuse hospital. The game was called after the incident.
The catcher returned to get five hits in nine at-bats in a mid-September series against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The Henry family was dealt another tragic blow a month earlier when Payton’s younger brother, Brooks, lost his battle with brain cancer at age 24.
Payton Henry has had that rock, that foundation to turn to through all of life’s highs and lows. He’s been there for the good, bad and monotonous.
“I talk to dad every single day,” he said. “That’s what our relationship is. We talk about a lot of stuff, just life, everything in general. We rarely miss a day. It couldn’t get any better.
“I hear some stories [from other players]. I’m like, ‘Man, I got lucky.’”
Morning Call senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com
