Gunnar Henderson Named Pro Athlete of the Year by ASWA
By Mark McCarter, courtesy of the Alabama Sports Writers Association
Forget the idea of a sophomore slump.
As June rolled around this year, Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson was second in the American League in home runs, 10th in RBI and third in runs scored, first in that new-agey state of WAR, and his team was in second place. He had one stretch of a home run in four consecutive games, and a third of the way through the season pundits were already positioning him as the league’s MVP.
It was Henderson’s freshman year in the majors that has him collecting still another piece of hardware, as Alabama’s Professional Athlete of the Year. In this football crazed state, he is the first non-NFL player to win the award from the Alabama Sports Writers Association since golfer Justin Thomas in 2017 and first MLB player since his Orioles teammate Craig Kimbrel in 2012.
Henderson, who won’t turn 23 until June 29, was the unanimous American League Rookie of the Year in 2023, with 28 home runs, 82 RBIs, .814 OPS and a .255 average. He won the AL Silver Slugger Award as best hitter among utility players. (Henderson split time between third base and shortstop, but has finally settled in as Baltimore’s shortstop. It is here we should note that he is 6-3, 220 pounds, surely reminding Oriole fans of the 6-4, 200-pound shortstop of the past named Cal Ripken Jr.)
Henderson was a second-round pick of the Orioles in 2019 out of Morgan Academy in his hometown of Selma, choosing to sign a pro contract sweetened by a $2.3 million bonus and opting out of the scholarship offer he received at Auburn. After his signing, Morgan retired his jersey No. 2, an occasion that led coach Stephen Clements to say, “Gunnar has always been the kid that worked harder than most and has earned every award that he has received.”
Many more awards seem destined in the future. As Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora recently said, “He's going to be a pain in the butt in the AL East for a while.”
"I'm running out of adjectives, honestly. I need to start bringing a thesaurus when I'm getting interviewed about Gunnar,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters last month. “It's unbelievable what he's doing and how good he is -- in every single way. There’s not one thing that he’s not really good at, and he’s 22 years old.”
At 21, the game still brought its challenges. Early in his Rookie of the Year season, Henderson was struggling. Two months into the season, he was batting only .201 with just five home runs in his first 50 games. The latter two-thirds, he put up Ripken-esque numbers: a .276/.322/.535 slash line with 28 home runs in his last 100 games.
“Obviously I came up and was struggling a little bit at the beginning of the year, but I gained a lot of knowledge and experience last year,” Henderson recently said. “I’ve taken that into this year, and it’s been really good for me. Like I said, I feel a lot looser. I just know what I need to do to get ready and I don’t need to change anything to have success. I’m a lot more comfortable.”
And American League pitchers are feeling a lot more uncomfortable.
See also: Nick Dunlap named Amateur Athlete of the Year by ASWA