Orioles Young Superstar Primed to Make First All-Star Team

The Baltimore Orioles have an influx of young talent and one of those players could reach an important milestone this sesaon.

Dylan Sanders | Apr 29, 2024

Apr 27, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson (2). / Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

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Baltimore Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles have no shortage of young talent on their roster and in the pipeline. There are plenty of future All-Stars in Baltimore, but which one has the best chance of making it happen this season?

As ESPN's David Schoenfield looked around the league to find April's All-Stars one Orioles player led the way for his position group.

Gunnar Henderson, last year's AL Rookie of the Year, is currently outperforming every statistical benchmark that he set for himself a year ago.

The 22-year-old is currently slashing .288/.347/.613. The biggest difference is that he has majorly upped his slugging while also improving upon his average. Last season, he had an OPS of .814 and this year it is up to .960.

It's not just luck, either. If anything he's been a little bit unlucky at the plate. His xBA is up to .295 from a .261 as a rookie. He's simply just hitting the ball very well this season.

His biggest competition as an All-Star starter is going to be Kansas City Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. The two are actually also neck-and-neck in the MVP odds as they sit closely behind New York Yankees slugger Juan Soto.

At this point of the season, it'll be a complete shocker if Henderson doesn't make his first All-Star squad in 2024.

Behind him on the roster Jordan Westburg and Colton Cowser were also mentioned as 'players to keep an eye on.'

Westburg certainly wasn't expected to be in the race this season, but has been one of the best third basemen in baseball. There will be some stuff competition in Isaac Paredes and Jose Ramirez just in terms of name recognition, but Westburg actually leads that group in WAR this season with 1.3.

Cowser has also been tearing it up at the plate, both players are hitting above .300, but has a lot stiffer competition to make the cut. He is carving out a nice lead in the race for his own AL Rookie of Year win, though.

Even if those two don't make it this season, it's only a matter of time before they get their call.

Published Apr 29, 2024

DYLAN SANDERS

Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders