Gunnar Henderson 2022

[LookinUp]

I'll admit that I was *relatively* down on Henderson after last year. It wasn't that I didn't like him as a prospect, I just thought the hype was a little ahead of the player. I heard about defense issues and his bat last year was pretty streaky. Some of that coincided with promotions, so there was a valid excuse. Still, the profile questions were there for me.

So what do we have now? A very young player in AA. A 3b who mostly likely will not be a SS. A plate approach that suddenly looks very mature. A legit power hitter who might excel in the dirt.

That's a very nice profile because he's starting to answer the questions from last year. As much as I personally like Westburg, it looks like Henderson should probably be above him on prospect lists. At this rate he should be above Cowser too and the question will be between him and Mayo. Good problem to have. 

[Tony-OH]

Henderson has improved his plate discipline and he's only made 1 error in 11 games at 3B, two things he needed to improve on from last year. 

Not to be a Donnie Downer, but the other major thing he needed to work on is hittng lefties. So far it hasn't been good overall though obviously a small sample size. He's slashing .143/.333/.214/.548 with 3 walks and 6 Ks in 18 PAs. Saying that, I did see his one double on a 1-2 pitch and he's getting deeper into counts a bit, so those are good signs. 

Still, he's going to have to prove he can hit lefties to fulfil his full promise at the big league level. He has time to work on that this year, but if he has another full season of struggling against lefties, it will be concerning.

[seak05]

Played SS last night, and this was a nice play. I would somewhat imagine just how good of a prospect he is is tied to how much you believe he can handle SS defensively.

[RZNJ]

Every time I see a highlight of him on defense, particularly at SS, I'm surprised by his agility, quickness, and coordination.   Don't take this the wrong way Oriole fans but he looks more athletic than Cal Ripken did although I know Ripken gets a gold star in positioning.

[oldfan]

Any chance he sticks at short, with comp of Brandon Crawford?

[RZNJ]

1 hour ago, oldfan said:

Any chance he sticks at short, with comp of Brandon Crawford?

I don't think you can ever rule it out.  I think most likely is probably Henderson at 3B.    Some of his future may be tied into where Westburg and Mayo wind up, assuming they are ML pieces.

[Frobby]

4 hours ago, RZNJ said:

Every time I see a highlight of him on defense, particularly at SS, I'm surprised by his agility, quickness, and coordination.   Don't take this the wrong way Oriole fans but he looks more athletic than Cal Ripken did although I know Ripken gets a gold star in positioning.

“Sorry, Cal.”

[Frobby]

3-run dinger for Gunnar, and 2 for 2 so far tonight.  

[waroriole]

On 4/30/2022 at 10:09 AM, RZNJ said:

Every time I see a highlight of him on defense, particularly at SS, I'm surprised by his agility, quickness, and coordination.   Don't take this the wrong way Oriole fans but he looks more athletic than Cal Ripken did although I know Ripken gets a gold star in positioning.

Don’t forget how sure handed Cal was too. His defense was severely underrated. 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, waroriole said:

Don’t forget how sure handed Cal was too. His defense was severely underrated. 

I think Cal got a ton of credit for his defense.

[justD]

5 minutes ago, Frobby said:

3-run dinger for Gunnar, and 2 for 2 so far tonight.  

I didn't cut it off at the end well...oh well!

[Frobby]

8 minutes ago, justD said:

I didn't cut it off at the end well...oh well!

It’s awesome.   Thanks!

[Sports Guy]

That announcers voice is something else 

[waroriole]

12 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

That announcers voice is something else 

It’s like the teenage kid from The Simpsons. 

[Sports Guy]

Btw, Gunnar is really going to shoot up the prospect charts if he can keep this up.  He is rolling.