Gunnar Henderson

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Gunnar Randal Henderson

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Biographical Information[edit]

Infielder Gunnar Henderson was ranked the #2 prospect in baseball when he was called up to make his major league debut towards the end of the 2022 season. A second-round draft pick of the Baltimore Orioles in the 2019 amateur draft (after they had selected Adley Rutschman with the first overall pick), he began his career that year with the GCL Orioles, hitting .259 in 29 games.

The Coronavirus pandemic then messed up his development, as it did that of countless minor leaguers, as he was unable to play in 2020 because the minor leagues were shut down, although he did spend the summer with the team's top prospects at its alternate training site. He returned to action in 2021, appearing with three different teams, first the Delmarva Shorebirds of the Low-A East, then the Aberdeen IronBirds of the High-A East, and finally for 5 games with the Bowie BaySox of the Double-A Northeast as the parent Orioles promote him aggressively. In all, he played 105 games, hitting .258/.350/.476 with 28 doubles, 17 homers, 68 runs and 78 RBIs, all while just 20. Defensively, he was used at shortstop and second base. He was named an organizational All-Star after the season.

In 2022, he began the season with Bowie, but after 47 games was promoted to AAA for the first time, with the Norfolk Tides of the International League. On June 28th, the day before his 21st birthday, he became the first Tides player to hit for the cycle since Timo Perez in 2000, doing so in an 8-2 win over the Gwinnett Braves. He was named to the 2022 Futures Game and led off the game on July 16th at Dodger Stadium by drawing a walk off Bobby Miller, moving to third on a wild pitch, and then scoring the first run of the game on a single by Dustin Harris. The next day, the Orioles once again had the first overall pick in the 2022 amateur draft and selected a shortstop in Jackson Holliday, but GM Mike Elias was quick to reassure reporters that Henderson remained at the top of their plans, and that they would find room for both young studs when the time came, comparing the pair to Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman, who had been top picks of the Houston Astros as shortstops when he was with that organization. He was called up to Baltimore on August 31st, by which point the Orioles had defied all reasonable expectations and were in the thick of the race for a wild card spot in the American League. He was hitting .288 in 65 games for Norfolk, for a seasonal line of .297/.416/.531 in 112 games, with 101 runs scored, 19 homers and 76 RBIs. He do not waste any time endearing himself to Orioles fans, as he went 2-for-4 with a no-doubt homer off Triston McKenzie in the 4th inning of a 4-0 win over the Cleveland Guardians. He started at third base and batted sixth in that game. The last Orioles player to homer in his debut had been Trey Mancini, in 2016. In his first home game on September 2nd, he doubled twice in a 5-2 win over the Oakland Athletics. He was named the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year and finished his first taste of the majors with a .259 average in 34 games, with 4 homers and 18 RBIs and an OPS+ of 125.

In 2023, The Orioles were a true contender in a jam-packed AL East, and he was in the center of things as the team's starting third baseman, also seeing some time at shortstop. On June 11th, he hit a monster home run, his third in four games, a 462-foot monster that was the longest homer ever to land in Eutaw Street, the pedestrian street behind the right field fence at Camden Yards. Ken Griffey Jr. still held the all-time record with a 465-foot bomb in the 1993 Home Run Derby that actually hit the warehouse across the street, but Henderson's was the longest hit in a regulation contest. His home run was a three-run shot in an 11-3 win over the Kansas City Royals. He had entered hitting just .201 after a slow start, but had been very hot in June. On June 13th, he hit a grand slam off Chris Bassitt to lead to Orioles over the Toronto Blue Jays in an 11-6 win. It was his first slam not just in the majors, but since turning pro, and between the two games he had been named the American League Player of the Week. He then added the AL Rookie of the Month award for June to his trophy case, finishing the month at .320 with 6 homers and 16 RBIs in 20 games. On July 6th, two days after injuring an unlucky cameraman with an errant throw at New Yankee Stadium, he had a tremendous game against the New York Yankees, homering twice with two other hits by the end of the 4th inning in a 14-1 rout. The first homer was his first as a lead-off hitter and he finished with 3 runs and 5 RBIs. On August 20th, he missed a cycle not because, like most players in that situation, he failed to hit a triple, but because he doubled in his final at-bat of a 12-1 win over the Oakland Athletics, thus finishing the day with a homer, a triple and two doubles. His final hit went down the right field line, and Gunnar never hesitated in heading for second base, which he reached easily. It was the second four-hit game of his career. He finished the season at .255 in 150 games, with 29 doubles, 9 triples and 28 homers, 100 runs and 82 RBIs, for an OPS+ of 125. He was the Orioles' best hitter in their three-game loss to the Texas Rangers in the Division Series, going 6 for 12 with a homer. After the season, he won a Silver Slugger Award at the utility player position, his time on defensive having been split between shortstop and third base, and was a unanimous choice for the Rookie of the Year Award.

Heading into the 2024 season, the Orioles announced that Henderson would concentrate on playing shortstop going forward, with top prospect Jackson Holliday, also a shortstop during his minor league apprenticeship thus far, moving to second base as the long-term configuration of their infield was taking shape. He started off just where he left off the year before, being named the American League Player of the Month in April after hitting .291 and slugging .624 with 10 homers and 6 stolen bases.

Notable Achievements[edit]


AL Rookie of the Year
2022 2023 2024
Julio Rodríguez Gunnar Henderson tbd

Further Reading[edit]

  • Sonja Chen: "A single shy of the cycle, Gunnar ... doubles! O's wrap 3-city road trip with sweep of A's, extend AL East lead to 3 games over Rays", mlb.com, August 20, 2023. [1]
  • Sam Dykstra: "Orioles' Henderson honored as Pipeline Hitting Prospect of the Year", mlb.com, October 3, 2022. [2]
  • Thomas Harrigan: "Waiting for a burger, Gunnar first got a callup", mlb.com, August 31, 2022. [3]
  • Thomas Harrigan: "Are we witnessing the Gunnar Henderson breakout?", mlb.com, June 20, 2023. [4]
  • brent Maguire: "Gunnar's star power keeps rising in O's series win: Young shortstop's metrics rank among MLB's best, falls triple shy of cycle against Halos", mlb.com, April 24, 2024. [5]
  • Jake Rill: "Absolutely crushed! Henderson's 462-foot HR longest to land on Eutaw Street", mlb.com, June 11, 2023. [6]
  • Jake Rill: "Henderson hammers Yanks in Baltimore's Bronx blowout: Orioles rookie's torrid night one of several eye-popping numbers in rout of Yankees", mlb.com, July 7, 2023. [7]
  • Jake Rill: "It's unanimous! Gunnar named AL Rookie of the Year", mlb.com, November 13, 2023. [8]
  • Harry Schulman: "Gunnar making case to match Cal Ripken Jr.? AL Rookie of Year contender's 438-foot home run fuels Baltimore's 16-hit attack", mlb.com, August 19, 2023. [9]
  • Zachary Silver: "Gunnar hits 1st HR so hard he lost his helmet: On little rest, No. 2 overall prospect collects two hits in impressive MLB debut", mlb.com, August 31, 2022. [10]
  • Joe Trezza: "Milestones for Henderson: Hit for cycle, turn 21!", mlb.com, June 29, 2022. [11]

Related Sites[edit]

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