Justyn-Henry wore No. 42 while playing at Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech in honor of the great Jackie Robinson…he chose No. 55 with the Rays in homage to both Robinson and Hank Aaron…the former wore No. 5 in 1945 with the Negro League’s Kansas City Monarchs, and the latter donned the number during his 1954 rookie season with the Milwaukee Braves… with the Tigers, he was initially given No. 36, but switched to Aaron’s No. 44 after then-Tigers First Base Coach Gary Jones, who previously had the number, agreed to swap to No. 86… Justyn-Henry‘s name was partially derived from his father, Henry, who was named after the legendary Aaron...He told Henry and his mother, Jacqueline, that he wanted to be a baseball player at age eight and never needed to create a backup plan…when Justyn-Henry homered for his first MLB hit in June 2024, a clip of his parents celebrating in the crowd went viral on social media…he estimated that he watched their reaction about 100 times...He has been close friends with White Sox catcher Kyle Teel since the two met while growing up in New Jersey...Justyn-Henry was familiar with Tampa Bay long before joining the Rays…Tampa was his offseason home during his stint with the Tigers...Last December, he participated in the Derek Jeter Celebrity Invitational golf tournament in the Bahamas, helping to raise over $2 million in support of the Turn 2 Foundation, which was established by the Hall of Famer in 1996 with a goal of helping youth “Turn 2” healthy lifestyles… other participants included Tiki Barber, Andruw Jones, Anthony Mackie, Ja Rule, CC Sabathia and Dontrelle Willis... Selected by the Braves in the sixth round (187th overall) of the 2021 First-Year Player Draft out of Georgia Tech...Spent two seasons (2019-20) at Vanderbilt University, appearing in 26 games…transferred to Georgia Tech in 2021 and hit .308 (64-for-208) over 56 games in his lone season at the school, pacing the team with 43 RBI and a .994 OPS...Played collegiate summer ball with the Bristol Blues (Futures Collegiate League) in 2018 and Newport Gulls (New England Collegiate Baseball League) in 2019...Helped Team USA to a gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games, earning MVP honors… received the 2015 Richard W. Case Award, presented annually to USA Baseball’s top player...Graduated from St. Joseph (N.J.) Regional High School, earning first team all-state honors as a senior.
2025
Split time with the Tigers and Triple-A Toledo… hit .221 (23-for-104) with six 2B, one HR and 17 RBI in four stints in the Majors: March 31-June 1, July 2-3, Sept. 1-6, and Sept. 24–season’s end...Min. 100 PA, his 15.7 pct. walk rate ranked sixth in the AL/ninth in the Majors…drew 8 BB in his first six games, tied for seventh most in Tigers history over a player’s first six games of a campaign...Went 9-for-26 (.346) with 1 2B, 14 RBI and 9 R with runners in scoring position, including 4-for-12 (.333) with RISP and two outs…also batted .306 (11-for-36) with runners on base...Hit .313 (10-for-32) against four-seam fastballs… recorded 10 of his 23 hits on four-seamers...Hit .300 (15-for-50) with 3 2B, 1 HR and 10 RBI over 27 games at Comerica Park…min. 50 AB, marked the third-best home average among Tigers hitters to All-Star Zach McKinstry (.357) and Jahmai Jones (.323)...On April 23 vs. SD, hit his lone home run of the season, a 5th-inning solo shot off Kyle Hart that left the bat at 111.7 mph, the hardest-hit ball of his career…added a run-scoring double in his next at-bat for his second career multi-extra-base-hit game, joining June 13, 2024 vs. WSH...On May 8 at COL, tallied a pinch-hit, bases clearing double, the first three pinch-hit RBI of his career…recorded two more in his next six games, including a walk-off single on May 14 vs. BOS off Aroldis Chapman, the first walk-off plate appearance of his career...Slashed .322/.453/.502 (84-for-261) with 20 2B, 9 HR, 53 RBI and 49 R over 72 games with Triple-A Toledo…min. 250 PA, led all Minor Leaguers in on-base pct. …also ranked ninth among Triple-A hitters in OPS (.955) and 10th in average.
2024
Split the 2024 season between Detroit and Triple-A Toledo...played in 71 games with the Tigers and hit .203/.291/.366 with seven doubles, one triple, eight homers and 21 RBI...appeared in 55 games with Toledo and batted .258/.403/.457 with 16 doubles, seven homers and 31 RBI...Made his Major League debut on June 3 at Texas, making his first career start at designated hitter and going 0-for-3...Produced the first two hits of his Major League career on June 5 at Texas...hit a solo homer off of Jose Ureña in the sixth inning, breaking up his perfect game...became the first Tigers player to have his first MLB hit also be a home run since Andre Lipcius on Sept. 2, 2023 at Chicago (AL)...Went 2-for-3 with a double, a homer, and three RBI on June 13 vs. Washington...became the first Tiger to have multiple extra-base hits and three or more RBI in one of his first nine career games since Alex Avila did so on August 7, 2009 vs. Minnesota...Launched his first career grand slam in the fifth inning on July 21 at Toronto for his sixth homer of the year...with Jake Rogers’ grand slam on July 20 and Malloy’s on July 21, they became the first Tigers to hit grand slams in consecutive games since Jhonny Peralta and Alex Avila on July 28-30, 2013...his four RBI set a career high...Saw his career-long 17-game on-base streak end after going 0-for-5 on July 27 vs. Minnesota...over the streak, which was the longest by a Tiger this season, he slashed .304/.400/.607 with one triple, five homers, nine runs scored and 12 RBI...Had a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning on September 26 vs. Baltimore...was his first career go-ahead RBI in the eighth inning or later...Appeared in all seven of the Tigers' postseason games, going 5x8 with a double...reached base safely in eight-of-11 plate appearances and had a 1.477 OPS...Made his playoff debut on October 1 at Houston, going 1-for-2 with a walk...Posted his first postseason multi-hit performance on Oct. 7 at Cleveland, going 2-for-3.
2023
Selected a Triple A All-Star by Baseball America and was named an International League Postseason All-Star...was also selected to the All-MiLB Prospect Second Team and was a Tigers Organizational All-Star according to MiLB.com...Led the International League with 110 walks, while he ranked seventh with 89 runs and a .417 on-base percentage, tied for eighth with 231 total bases and ninth with 135 hits...Posted a 16-game hitting streak from April 6-26, going 23-for-59 with four doubles, three home runs and 14 RBI...Named Tigers Minor League Player of the Month for April after slashing .344/.473/.533 with five doubles, four home runs and 16 RBI in 25 games...Drove in five runs and went 2-for-4 with a double and two walks on Aug. 5 at Iowa...Earned International League Player of the Week honors for the week ending Sept. 3 after hitting .450/.607/1.250 with four doubles, four home runs and five RBI...homered in four straight games from Aug. 31-Sept. 3.
2022
Combined to play in 133 games between Single A Rome, Double A Mississippi and Triple A Gwinnett in 2022... Named a Braves Organization All-Star by MiLB.com after leading all Atlanta Minor Leaguers in doubles (28), on-base percentage (.408), total bases (217) and walks (97), while ranking second in hits (138), RBI (81), extra-base hits (45), slugging percentage (.454) and OPS (.862)... Went 5x5 with two doubles and two RBI on May 14 vs. Winston-Salem... Hit safely in 13 straight games with Rome from May 3-18, hitting .388/.439/.592 with four doubles, two home runs and 11 RBI... Belted a pair of homers and drove in five on June 16 at Asheville... Played in 23 games with Rome during June, slashing .321/.408/.560 with five doubles, five home runs and 20 RBI... Appeared in 20 games with Scottsdale in the Arizona Fall League and hit .306/.438/.444 with five doubles, a triple, a home run and seven RBI...was selected to the AFL’s Fall Stars Team...Ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the Braves organization by Baseball America following the season...also rated as the best hitter for average and as possessing the best strike-zone discipline in the Braves system.
