He’s making the tweaks
Henderson, after ‘trying to be perfect,’ gets his rookie season off ground
Perhaps the most noticeable change for Gunnar Henderson this past Orioles homestand was a swap of walk-up songs, with the rookie infielder going from the rock-androll intro of Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome To The Jungle” to the upbeat opening of Gwen Stefani’s “Sweet Escape.”
But subtler tweaks have allowed Henderson’s bat to begin to take off after a slow start. Over 10 games at Camden Yards against the Tampa Bay Rays, Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Angels, the 21-year-old hit .258/.342/.548, briefly getting his season average above .200 after returning to Baltimore hitting .176/.342/.308.
Henderson’s adjustments were both mental and mechanical. Baseball’s top prospect coming into this season, he entered the homestand with one of baseball’s best walk rates, a sign of both premier plate discipline and passiveness that at times handicapped him. He credited his recent improvements to “just not trying to be perfect.”
“When you try to be perfect, you kind of tense up a little bit,” Henderson said. “Try to find the perfect pitch in the perfect spot, and that just doesn’t really happen too often. And when you do get it, then you try to do too much.
“Trying to focus on hitting that perfect pitch in the perfect location with the perfect angle, if you’re sitting there trying to do that, it’s usually not going to work out.”
Through the Orioles’ latest road trip, Henderson had swung at 37% of the pitches he had seen. He then posted a rate about 10% higher over the past three home series thanks to improved aggressiveness.
“Whenever you’re not having the success that you want to, you’re always maybe putting a little bit too much pressure on yourself,” Orioles co-hitting coach Matt Borgschulte said. “I think he’s realizing that he doesn’t need an absolute perfect pitch, as long as he’s in a good spot to attack.”
To put Henderson in that spot, Borgschulte and fellow hitting coach Ryan Fuller worked with him on minor physical adjustments. Primarily, Henderson’s shoulders are more squared, with the left-handed hitter previously starting his stance slightly more closed with his front right shoulder forward.
Borgshulte said that tweak, along with a small change in hand placement, have allowed Henderson to keep his swing through the ball, leading to consistent harder contact. Entering Thursday, his average exit velocity on the homestand was 94.1 mph, up from 90.8 mph coming in.
“That’s the crazy thing about hitting is you make one tiny, little move, and you might not even be able to notice it if you’re looking at it with an untrained eye,” Borgschulte said. “But it can make a world of difference.”
The early returns suggest that’s been the case for Henderson, who came into the year as the favorite to be American League Rookie of the Year but hasn’t quite lived up to that billing through the first quarter of the season. On Thursday, he recorded an infield single off lefthander Tyler Anderson, giving him a six-game hitting streak, nine-game on-base streak and a .202 batting average before he struck out in his next three at-bats to leave his line for the season at .197/.342/.369.
Last year, Henderson hit .297 with a .946 OPS between Double-A and Triple-A, rising to the top of prospect lists and the majors, where he batted .259 with a .788 OPS over the season’s final month.
“I just think he’s getting more comfortable as the at-bats pile up,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “It’s not uncommon for young players to go through some adversity. I’m proud of the way he has handled the first part of the season. It’s not easy up here. Nobody thought it was gonna be, honestly. What he did last September was unbelievable. But teams make adjustments, he’s making adjustments back right now. He’s putting in great work, and he’s playing really good baseball right now.”
This isn’t the first time he’s struggled in his professional career.
The youngest member of Baltimore’s alternate training site during the canceled 2020 minor league season, Henderson was dominated early in matchups against top prospects and pitchers on the cusp of the majors, but the experience proved vital for his development as he grew to hold his own by camp’s end. In 2021, he slumped massively upon his arrival to High-A Aberdeen, with one hit in his first 11 games, but he settled in to earn a promotion to Double-A Bowie to end the season.
“I know what he’s capable of,” said utility player Terrin Vavra, who played with Henderson
in the minors. “I know that his numbers might not be where he envisioned them or a lot of people envisioned them, but I think that the thing about it is he brings so much to the team, whether it’s taking a good at-bat and making pitchers work, just competing. He’s never lacked desire, motivation to get better. He always keeps his nose to the grindstone, wants to work and wants to get better, and I think that’s what’s ultimately gonna keep him in this game for a long time.
“Hopefully, in the future, he’ll be able to say he learned from this and it made him a better player.”
Henderson has shown frustration at times, with the occasional slammed helmet or bat, but both teammates and coaches have praised how he’s handled his season-opening slump.
“Here’s a 21-year-old young man that is learning in the big leagues, and he gets frustrated, but he comes in the next day and he’s fine and he’s willing to work,” bench coach Fredi González said. “The organization’s giving him at-bats to work through it, and it’s not easy here in the big leagues to make adjustments and have success, and little by little, we want him to be the guy that is gonna be on all the billboards, but I think it’s gonna take a little time.”
Borgschulte agreed, acknowledging the pressures facing Henderson as a player who opened the year as Orioles’ and baseball’s top prospect.
“It’s not easy to be touted as the No. 1 guy, but the work that he puts in, we know that he’s gonna be one of the top players in the league,” Borgschulte said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that with anybody within our organization. And the confidence that he has in his abilities is outstanding, and that’s never wavered, and I don’t think it ever will. It shouldn’t because he’s got a ton of talent, and it’s gonna continue to come through.”