If we were to survey Orioles fans for reasons to be excited about their baseball team, many would point to one player – Gunnar Henderson.
The shortstop is no longer an emerging star in the sport but a legit star and among the very best in the game. He is 23, not even arbitration-eligible yet and has four more years of team control. He’s going to be around for a while.
This week he was ranked as the sport’s No. 10 player on MLB Network’s Top 100 players right now list. Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and Bobby Witt Jr., in that order, make up the top three players as ranked by the network. Catcher Adley Rutschman was rated No. 58. Henderson moved up from No. 34 last year.
In two full seasons with the Orioles, Henderson has a Rookie of the Year award, a Silver Slugger, two top eight MVP finishes and one All-Star game appearance. He was eighth in the 2023 MVP vote and fourth last fall behind Judge, Witt and Juan Soto.
The kid is keeping good company and has become the face of the franchise. He has been named Most Valuable Oriole the last two years.
After posting an .814 OPS for 2023, Henderson recorded an .893 OPS with 37 homers, 92 RBIs and 118 runs scored,
Now, can Henderson find an even higher gear for 2025?
A .900 OPS certainly is within reach; he almost got there last season. In 2023, 10 MLB players produced a mark of .900 or better. Last season, there were nine, led by Judge and Ohtani as the only players at 1.000 or higher.
When O’s fans ponder how good Henderson can be, there has to be excitement about what that could mean. At some point later in his career, he likely moves out of the leadoff spot. But for now, batting their best hitter first is working out for Henderson and the Orioles.
O’s drop in organizational rankings: The Orioles no longer have the No. 1-ranked farm system in the majors. It’s a result of both graduating top talent to the majors and trading off some prospects for current big league talent and losing top 30 players such as Connor Norby, Jackson Baumeister and several others that way.
But it was quite a run.
MLBPipeline.com has been publishing organizational rankings twice per calendar year since the preseason of 2015 and no team had been first in six straight rankings until the Orioles did it through the 2024 preseason rating.
Before the O’s run of six straight, Tampa Bay was first three times in a row and before that San Diego four in a row. No team had ever produced three straight No. 1-ranked players until the O’s did it from 2022 through 2024 with Adley Rutschman, Henderson and Jackson Holliday.
But in rankings just out over the last few weeks, the O’s tumbled to No. 14 via ESPN, No. 17 by Baseball America and No. 20 on The Athletic. MLBPipeline’s updated ratings are not out yet.
Keith Law, on The Athletic, noted the O’s are no longer picking at the top of the draft and questioned their pitching depth on the farm in dropping them to No. 20.
Foul Territory appearance: I enjoyed joining Foul Territory TV to talk about the Orioles on Friday with host Scott Braun and former players Erik Kratz and Todd Frazier.
The guys asked me how the O’s season will be judged and we discussed that it will come down to October. They obviously have to get to the playoffs first, but then start winning in the postseason to end a 10-game playoff losing streak that dates to 2014.
Foul Territory’s X account also posted these clips where we discussed Jackson Holliday and a possible extension for Henderson.
Why hasn’t Gunnar Henderson been extended yet?
It could be because Year One under new ownership was a “fact-finding year,” says @SteveOnBaseball. pic.twitter.com/5vOFGJZC8x
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) February 14, 2025