Fangraphs Projects Orioles' Gunnar Henderson Among MLB's Best Players

Fangraphs released their preseason projections with Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson placing second.

Oct 1, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson (2) looks out from the dugout against the Kansas City Royals in game one of the Wild Card round for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles have built their roster through drafting and developing their players, with most of those now forming the young core of their playoff-contending team.

The biggest piece of that core, shortstop Gunnar Henderson, has quickly made a household name for himself with what he is able to do at the plate.

After debuting on the last day of August in 2022, the shortstop has since played in two full seasons, winning the American League Rookie of the Year in 2023, and finishing fourth in MVP voting this year.

At only 23, Henderson has yet to reach his prime and is expected to get even better. Fangraphs believes that to be the case for 2025, ranking the young star as the second-best player in MLB going into next season.

In just 343 career Major League games, Henderson has batted .268/.346/.504 with 69 home runs, 192 RBI, and a 141 OPS+ across 1,473 plate appearances. He has increased his home run rate each year, from 3.0 percent in 2022 to 4.5 percent in 2023, and 5.1 percent in 2024, lowered his strikeout rate to a below-league average 22.1 percent in 2024 and has walked at a plus rate of 10.2 percent.

Fatigue did seem to be an issue for the superstar in 2024, as his second-half stats were much weaker than his first-half.

After batting .287/.373/.584 with 28 home runs and 63 RBI in the first half of the year, he batted only .273/.352/.447 with nine home runs and 29 RBI in the second half.

It remains to be seen if the second consecutive year of 150 or more games will help him keep his production levels up in 2025, but if he does, he can easily compete with Aaron Judge for the American League MVP.

As things stand, the only player ranked ahead of Henderson in Fangraphs' projections is Shohei Ohtani. Until another two-way player comes along, or Ohtani retires, no one will take that top spot away from him.

Being the best of the rest is a high honor, however, and Gunnar Henderson is more than deserving with the trajectory that his career has taken to this point.