In 1982, a young shortstop named Cal Ripken Jr. burst onto the Orioles scene and won the American League Rookie of the Year award. Ripken stepped up a level the following season, winning the American League MVP award and becoming one of the best players in sports.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because we’re watching a similar story unfold in Baltimore right now, written by Gunnar Henderson.
Henderson, the unanimous AL Rookie of the Year in 2023, has soared to new heights with the Orioles in 2024, helping the franchise post one of the best records in MLB (49-28). The shortstop is second in the majors with 24 home runs and sixth with a .975 OPS. He also leads all players with a WAR of 5.5 as of Sunday (Baseball-Reference).
The 22-year-old is not only a candidate for AL MVP this year, but he’s also on his way to making history in more ways than one. Here’s why:
He’s as powerful as any shortstop has ever been.
Throughout baseball history, there haven’t been a ton of elite sluggers at the shortstop position — in fact, only four major shortstops (those who played at least 50% of the games at shortstop that season) have hit 40 home runs in a season, a total of 13 times.
MLB shortstops with 40 home runs
In 1955, Banks became the first player to hit 30 home runs when he hit 44 for the Cubs. Prior to that, only one shortstop (Vern Stevens) had done so.
Banks would hit 40 or more home runs four more times during his legendary career, hitting 47 in 1958, a record for a shortstop that stood for 43 years.
In 1969, the Red Sox’s Petrocelli hit 40 home runs, giving the team another shortstop, but it was a one-off event and Petrocelli never hit more than 29 home runs in another season.
MLB didn’t have a 40-home run shortstop for nearly 30 years, until A-Rod hit 42 in a 40-40 season with the Mariners in 1998. That marked the start of six straight 40-home run streaks for Rodriguez, who went on to hit 52 home runs as a member of the Rangers in 2001, breaking Banks’ shortstop record, and surpassing his own record the following season with 57 home runs.
After Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees and moved to third base in 2004, no shortstop hit 40 home runs until Tatis hit 42 for the Padres in 2021.
Henderson is well on his way to becoming just the fifth starting shortstop to hit 40-plus home runs in a season, and if he keeps up his current pace he could become just the second shortstop to hit 50 home runs in a season, joining A-Rod.
He’s been doing great at the top of the lineup.
Henderson bounced around the Orioles’ lineup as a rookie, batting leadoff 39 times, playing second 25 times and as the fifth batter 27 times, with at least one start in each position. But this year, the young player has been a consistent presence at the top of the lineup, batting leadoff in 70 of his 76 starts.
All 24 of Henderson’s home runs this season have come as the leadoff hitter in Baltimore’s lineup, putting him on pace to break the MLB record for home runs by a leadoff hitter, set last season by Braves superstar Ronald Acuña Jr., who hit 41 homers as a leadoff hitter.
Most home runs by a leadoff hitter in a single season
That included eight top-of-the-line homers — counting those hit by the first batter in either the top or bottom of the opening inning — putting Henderson on the verge of breaking Soriano’s single-season record (13).
Additionally, Henderson is on pace to record 112 RBI as a leadoff hitter, which would set a new record as far as leadoff hitters go. Only five players in MLB history have recorded 100 RBI as a leadoff hitter, and three of them will do it in 2023.
Leadoff hitter with 100 or more RBIs in a season
He is very talented despite his young age.
Henderson’s power has been impressive this season, but he’s never been a one-trick pony.
Henderson is playing his first full-time shortstop season as a pro and has established himself as one of the best defenders at the position. He has also improved his base-stealing prowess this year, converting 13 of 14 attempts after only 10 attempts as a rookie.
Henderson’s well-rounded skill set puts him on pace to finish with 11.7 bWAR through Sunday, which would be the most for a position player under the age of 23 in MLB history.
Only six position players have had a 10 bWAR season (seven times) at that age or younger, and no position player has reached 11 bWAR.
Players who earned 10+ bWAR in their age-23 or younger season:
At any age, an 11 bWAR season is special. Only 12 position players have achieved this feat (20 times), 11 of whom are in the Hall of Fame. The only one not in the Hall of Fame is Barry Bonds, whose time in Cooperstown was marked by controversy due to his involvement with performance-enhancing drugs.
Fielders in MLB history with a bWAR of 11 or more
No player has reached 11 bWAR in a season since Bonds did so in back-to-back years in 2001-02. Who was the last position player to do it before Bonds? Ripken in 1991, when he won his second AL MVP award.
No Orioles player has won the MVP award since then, but if Henderson continues on this trajectory, he could end that MVP drought.
