Pitcher Brad Hennessey is one of five former Youngstown State baseball players to reach the Major Leagues. Of those, he is the fourth to be inducted into the YSU Athletics Hall of Fame.
Hennessey, Dave Dravecky, Ron Allen, Don Leshnock and Justin Thomas have all reached the Big Leagues at some point following their Penguin careers.
Hennessey made his debut for the San Francisco Giants on August 7, 2004, against the Chicago Cubs. And he made it on the FOX National Game of the Week against Greg Maddux, who picked up the 300th victory of his career that afternoon in San Francisco. Hennessey held his own that day, and his first career strikeout victim in a MLB game was Sammy Sosa.
One week later, Hennessey picked up his first MLB victory as the Giants beat Philadelphia on August 13. He was used as a starter by San Francisco the remainder of the 2004 campaign and the entire 2005 season. After starting 12 games in 2006, he moved to the bullpen and eventually took over the team's role as closer in 2007. He played multiple roles – starting, setting up and closing - for the club in 2008.
In 2005, he had highs of 118.1 innings pitched, 21 starts and 64 strikeouts. In 2007, he had a career-best 69 appearances, finishing with 19 saves and 40 strikeouts.
In his five seasons for San Francisco he posted a 17-23 record, had 20 saves and a 4.69 earned-run average, appeared in 148 games with 44 starts, pitched 360.2 innings and struck out 192 batters.
After leaving the Giants organization, he signed with Baltimore, Minnesota and Houston.
He was the highest draft pick in school history as the 21st overall selection in the 2001 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft on June 5 and signed with the Giants on June 30. He was sidelined in 2002 dealing with a back injury, but, once fully recovered in 2003, he was on his way to the Show.
Hennessey spent three seasons with the Guins from 1999-2001.
In 2001, the right-hander was named the Mid-Continent Conference's Co-Pitcher of the Year and was a first-team all-league selection. He struck out a school-record 126 batters in 88.2 innings pitched, averaging 12.8 strikeouts per nine innings. He was 6-5 with a 4.06 ERA and had five complete games out of 12 starts, including two shutouts. He tossed two-hit shutouts against Chicago State and Southern Utah during the year. Against the T-Birds, he had a career-best 14 strikeouts.
For his career, he was 6-10 with a 5.76 ERA, appearing in 32 games (18 starts), pitching 140.2 innings and striking out 170.
As a freshman and sophomore, Hennessey pitched and played shortstop during the year. In 2000, he batted .336 with 40 hits, three home runs, 19 RBIs and 29 runs scored. On the mound he pitched 33.2 innings, appearing in nine games while making five starts. He struck out 33 batters.
In 1999, he hit .361 with 13 hits, five runs scored and four RBIs. Hennessey pitched in seven games, tossing 18.1 innings posting 11 strikeouts.
While attending YSU, he majored in computer information systems and earned his associate's degree in applied science.
At Toledo's Whitmer High School, Hennessey was an Honorable-Mention All-American playing shortstop and pitching his senior season. He was 3-1 with a 1.37 ERA and batted .472 en route to earning first-team all-state, district and city accolades.
Brad and his wife, Erin, have two children, Emma and Colin.
