To the surprise of none, Gunnar Henderson received all 30 first place votes to win AL Rookie of the Year. Henderson beat out Tanner Bibee of the Cleveland Guardians and Triston Casas of the Boston Red Sox to win the award.
Henderson is the 7th player in Baltimore Orioles history to win Rookie of the Year. He joins Gregg Olson, Cal Ripken Jr., Eddie Murray, Al Bumbry, Curt Blefary and Ron Hansen.
Henderson hit .255/.325/.489 with 29 doubles, nine triples, 28 home runs, 82 RBIs, 56 walks and 10 stolen bases in 150 games. He led all rookies in Baseball Reference Wins Above Replacement (bWAR) with 6.3. Henderson also led all rookies in triples, runs, RBI, and total bases (274).
Henderson is the fourth AL rookie since 2002 to score 100 runs in a season along with Aaron Judge, Mike Trout and Austin Jackson. He became the first rookie in Orioles history to record at least 20 doubles, five triples, 20 home runs and 10 stolen bases in a season.
Gunnar set the rookie team record in extra-base hits, runs, bWAR, and slugging percentage. Henderson’s strong season earned him the Louis M. Hatter Most Valuable Oriole Award.
Known for a lot of things, Henderson was mainly known for his versatility. He appeared in 84 games at third base and 83 at shortstop. He lead the Orioles with 13 defensive runs saved despite bouncing back and forth between positions. 10 of those 13 runs were at shortstop, which is good for sixth best in the MLB despite playing 360 fewer innings at the position.
Henderson was named MLB Rookie of the Year by Sporting News and Players Choice, both voted on by peers. He was named a Silver Slugger early last week, becoming the 15th rookie to do so in MLB history and the first in Orioles history. Henderson was selected on the All-Rookie team and was Rookie of the Month in June.
Henderson made his season debut on Opening Day in 2023 as the #1 prospect in America according to Baseball America. He was the 2022 Minor League Player of the Year and MLB Pipeline Hitting Prospect of the Year. Henderson represented the O’s in Los Angeles in the 2022 All-Star Futures game and made his major league debut on August 31st in Cleveland.
Brandon Hyde will look to join Henderson as winners of a BBWAA Award, as he is a finalist for AL Manager of the Year. The winner of this award will be announced on Tuesday, November 14th. This would be the third time in team history that the Orioles would have two BBWAA Award winners. Gregg Olson won Rookie of the Year and Frank Robinson won AL Manager of the Year in 1989, and Al Bumbry won the AL Rookie of the Year award and Jim Palmer won the AL Cy Young Award in 1973.
The Orioles Charitable Foundation will make a donation to a charity of Gunnar Henderson’s choice as recognition for his award.
The post A Star in the Making: Gunnar Henderson wins AL Rookie of the Year. appeared first on Marylandsportsblog.com.