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For the second straight year, a rookie has been named the best player on the Orioles.
Gunnar Henderson, at just 22 years old, was announced as the Most Valuable Oriole on Saturday, as local media recognized the young star who helped propel Baltimore atop the American League.
Before 2022, only two rookies had been named MVO in Orioles history dating back to 1954. Now, Baltimore’s rebuild has paid off, as Henderson follows Adley Rutschman, who won the award last year, as rookie MVOs.
The two former No. 1 overall prospects winning the award is further proof — if any was needed — that the Orioles’ youth movement has arrived and is thriving. Rutschman and Henderson are the two best position players on the best team in the AL more than four years after Baltimore used its first two draft picks to select the college catcher and the high school infielder.
Earlier this season, it appeared the race for MVO would be a tight one, as the balanced Orioles emerged thanks to contributions from almost every corner of their roster. Others to receive at least one top-three vote were: Rutschman, closer Félix Bautista, starting pitcher Kyle Bradish, slugger Anthony Santander and first baseman Ryan O’Hearn.
But as summer gave way to fall, it became clear that Henderson was the likely choice.
Henderson, who debuted in August 2022 but maintained his rookie eligibility for 2023, overcame a slow first six weeks of the season and blossomed into the type of player the Orioles’ front office and coaching staff believed he could be. With two games remaining in the regular season, Henderson is slashing .257/.326/.492 — good for an .818 OPS that ranks second on the team. He’s tied with Santander for the team lead in homers with 28 and second to the switch-hitter in RBIs.
But Henderson’s value goes far beyond the batter’s box.
He’s been a plus defender at both third base and shortstop, splitting his first full big league season evenly between the two positions. He ranks in the top 25% of Statcast’s Outs Above Average metric, and his nine defensive runs saved at the shortstop position ranks third in the AL.
He’s also been perhaps the Orioles’ most aggressive base runner, at times turning singles into doubles and doubles into triples. He led the team with nine triples (only two MLB players have more) and also stole 10 bases.
Put the whole package together, and Henderson’s wins above replacement on Baseball-Reference is 6.1 — the Orioles’ first six-win player since Jonathan Schoop in 2017.
No other Oriole on the 2023 team has more than 4.8 WAR.
Henderson, who joins Gregg Olson (1989), Rodrigo López (2002) and Rutschman (2022) as rookies to win MVO, will likely receive more hardware this fall. He opened the season as the favorite to win the AL Rookie of the Year Award, but his odds from Vegas sportsbooks dipped after he hit .170 through May 12. He later re-established himself as the front-runner and is now a shoo-in to become the first Oriole to win the award since Olson in 1989.
He could also receive AL Most Valuable Player votes.
Only eight players in the majors, four of whom play in the AL, have a higher WAR than Henderson. That list, one that includes some of the biggest stars in the sport, is: Los Angeles Angels two-way wonder Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts, Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr., New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, Braves first baseman Matt Olson, Texas Rangers infielder Marcus Semien and Rangers shortstop Corey Seager.
While his value in the aggregate is impressive, it’s the individual moments that made Henderson the MVO.
In June, the month he broke out as the AL Player of the Month, he walloped his first home run onto Eutaw Street. With a projected distance of 462 feet, according to Statcast tracking data, it was the farthest long ball ever hit onto Eutaw Street.
June was great, but the best game of his career (at that time) came in early July. A week after turning 22, Henderson opened a game at Yankee Stadium 4-for-4 with two home runs to lead the Orioles to a 14-1 win. With a hit in each of the game’s first four frames and two homers, he became just the second major leaguer to do so since 1984.
He kept it rolling into August with the best game of his career thus far — one that sparked a friendly debate among teammates and fans.
Henderson was a single away from recording the eighth cycle in Orioles history when he stepped to the plate during the eighth inning against the Oakland Athletics on Aug. 18. After roping a double down the right field line, he chose to sprint to second for his fourth extra-base hit — two doubles, a triple and a home run — rather than remain at first for the cycle. He received playful jeers from teammates but praise from his manager.
“Gunnar plays the game at one speed, and that’s hard,” Hyde said. “And that’s the right way.”
This story will be updated.
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