Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson made MLB history with a home run on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Henderson’s three-run homer in the top of the ninth was his 20th of the season, second-most in baseball history, and he added another run to give the Orioles a 5-0 victory.
The 22-year-old Henderson was the leadoff hitter and recorded one hit for four at-bats. Henderson’s stats are .263 batting average, 45 RBI, eight stolen bases, a .947 OPS and a 4.3 WAR.
Henderson has hit 20 home runs in the team’s first 63 games this season, which is tied for the seventh-most among players age 22 or younger, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.
Harmon Killebrew set the record with 24 in 1959, while Mel Ott, Johnny Bench, Alex Rodriguez, Bryce Harper and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. each hit 21. Eddie Matthews hit 20 in 1953. Albert Pujols hit 20 in 2001.
Gunnar Henderson hits 20 home runs this year. pic.twitter.com/lsFndIQOK8
— MLB (@MLB) June 8, 2024
Langs also noted that Henderson’s 20 homers as a leadoff hitter are the second-most by a player through 63 games. The previous record at this point in a season was held by former Orioles outfielder Brady Anderson with 22 in 1996.
Henderson is on pace to hit 51 home runs and drive in 115 this year. The MLB records for home runs and RBIs from a leadoff hitter are both broken in 2023. Ronald Acuña had 41 home runs and Mookie Betts had 107 RBI.
OptaSTATS has compiled all of Henderson’s most unique achievements so far in 2024 and combined them to give him his most special achievement.
No player in MLB history had ever hit 20 home runs in a season before turning 23, hit 20 home runs as a leadoff hitter and hit 20 home runs as a shortstop in his entire career, and not only did Henderson accomplish all three in one year, he did it in less than 40% of his games.
of @OriolesGunnar Henderson 2024:
20 home runs in a season under the age of 22
20 home runs in a season as a leadoff hitter
20 home runs in a season as a SS
No other player in MLB history has accomplished all three of these things over the course of his entire career (whether in the same season or not).
He did it all in one season with 99 games remaining. pic.twitter.com/AxYw4QMjSY
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) June 8, 2024
Henderson will look to continue his historic power run on Sunday against the Rays, who can clinch their fourth straight victory with a road win at 1:40 p.m. ET.
The reigning AL Rookie of the Year will likely start at shortstop and bat leadoff.
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