Gunnar Henderson 2022

[Gurgi]

7 minutes ago, Hallas said:

Part of the reason Os fans don't want to believe is because we've been disappointed so many times.  We got Adley already, but he was pretty polished when he was drafted.  Before that the last player to live up to his hype was Machado.  Before that?  I'm not even sure.

 

Based on how many prospects have suddenly done better than expected after Elias reworked the player development infrastructure, and all the smoke about how terrible the player development system was before, I'm inclined to think it wasn't just bad luck that caused all our prospects to flame out.

Yeah I hear you.  Look at Arrieta and Gausman.  I dont know if they messed with Gausman that much but I hear stuff from Arrieta that they pushed him to make changes that did not help him at all.   

[Gurgi]

Scouting grades: Hit: 60 | Power: 60 | Run: 55 | Arm: 65 | Field: 50 | Overall: 65

The 2019 Draft may always be known in Baltimore as the one where Adley Rutschman became an Oriole, but it would be short-sighted to forget the scouting staff also managed to bring in Henderson to kick off the second round. A tremendous high school athlete who starred in basketball and baseball in Alabama, Henderson signed for an over-slot bonus of $2.3 million and had a solid pro debut that summer. After playing well as one of the youngest players at the O’s alternate site in 2020, Henderson started the 2021 season in Low-A and finished in Double-A, then made it up to Triple-A, and the Futures Game, in 2022.

https://www.mlb.com/prospects/top100/gunnar-henderson-683002

How can they grade his run at 55 when he just ran the third fastest triple in the league this season?  I think they might have graded him a little low on speed.  

[nate22]

1 hour ago, Gurgi said:

Yeah I hear you.  Look at Arrieta and Gausman.  I dont know if they messed with Gausman that much but I hear stuff from Arrieta that they pushed him to make changes that did not help him at all.   

Mayb this might give some insight on Gausman's tenure in Baltimore. According to Caleb Joseph:

 

https://pressboxonline.com/2022/06/22/former-orioles-c-caleb-joseph-we-had-everything-wrong-with-kevin-gausman/

[joelala]

9 hours ago, Gurgi said:

I think his meteoric rise in the prospect rankings were a lot of scouts seeing him play and shaking their heads.  Their opinions tricked back to us Oriole fans but it was kind of hard to believe not seeing him ourselves.  How could he shoot up the rating so fast?  Is it legit?

It seems the scouts were right.   This kid really checks all the boxes.   He might be a star for a long long time. 

Maybe I’m giddy, but I think he has a decent chance to be our best player since Manny, and maybe even surpass that. I wasn’t around for Cal’s rookie season, but this kid is extremely precocious and his poise strikes me even more than his physical talent. He has the look of something potentially really special. 

[Moose Milligan]

5 hours ago, nate22 said:

Mayb this might give some insight on Gausman's tenure in Baltimore. According to Caleb Joseph:

 

https://pressboxonline.com/2022/06/22/former-orioles-c-caleb-joseph-we-had-everything-wrong-with-kevin-gausman/

I don't want to hijack this into a Kevin Gausman re-hash thread but this was infuriating to read.  

[sportsfan8703]

Hyde’s job is easy. Write down 3rd and 3rd base. Set it and forget it. 

[DocJJ]

I was at the game last night.  He certainly looks "special" the way Machado did.  He hit a triple (turned little league home run by terrible error by left fielder) and a double off the wall that just missed being a home run.   He played well on defense.   But to me, what really stood out, was just how fast he got around the bases on his triple.  He flew around the bases showing incredible speed and scored standing up.  I don't know how fast he is or how many steals he had in the minors, but that was an unexpected facet to his skill set that I didn't know he had.

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, DocJJ said:

what really stood out, was just how fast he got around the bases on his triple.  He flew around the bases showing incredible speed and scored standing up.  I don't know how fast he is or how many steals he had in the minors, but that was an unexpected facet to his skill set that I didn't know he had.

2021: 16 steals, 2 caught stealing

2022: 22 steals, 3 caught stealing

He’s not only fast, he appears to be a smart baserunner.   

[Oriole1940]

I know that Machado was a super ball  player, but barring in jury, I believe Gunnar is going turn out to be the better of the two,  His speed separates them IMO.  And he appears to do it so easily, with little obvious effort.  And as previous poster said, he is a smart player.  

[Can_of_corn]

16 hours ago, Gurgi said:

Scouting grades: Hit: 60 | Power: 60 | Run: 55 | Arm: 65 | Field: 50 | Overall: 65

The 2019 Draft may always be known in Baltimore as the one where Adley Rutschman became an Oriole, but it would be short-sighted to forget the scouting staff also managed to bring in Henderson to kick off the second round. A tremendous high school athlete who starred in basketball and baseball in Alabama, Henderson signed for an over-slot bonus of $2.3 million and had a solid pro debut that summer. After playing well as one of the youngest players at the O’s alternate site in 2020, Henderson started the 2021 season in Low-A and finished in Double-A, then made it up to Triple-A, and the Futures Game, in 2022.

https://www.mlb.com/prospects/top100/gunnar-henderson-683002

How can they grade his run at 55 when he just ran the third fastest triple in the league this season?  I think they might have graded him a little low on speed.  

The speed grade is literally done with a stopwatch.  My guess is he worked hard and got faster.  The data they used was probably from when he was drafted.

[beardbr]

15 hours ago, nate22 said:

Mayb this might give some insight on Gausman's tenure in Baltimore. According to Caleb Joseph:

 

https://pressboxonline.com/2022/06/22/former-orioles-c-caleb-joseph-we-had-everything-wrong-with-kevin-gausman/

I didn't realize Caleb was a Blue jays Broadcaster

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Oriole1940 said:

I know that Machado was a super ball  player, but barring in jury, I believe Gunnar is going turn out to be the better of the two,  His speed separates them IMO.  And he appears to do it so easily, with little obvious effort.  And as previous poster said, he is a smart player.  

That would be awesome, but Machado has the 33rd-best rWAR through age 29 of anyone ever.  And that's with him missing time for injury one year, and most of a year from COVID.  You could reasonably argue that Manny is a top 25 player (non-pitchers) of all time through his age.  Accounting for COVID Manny is nearly even with Cal through his age.  Cal... and Yaz, Duke Snider, Yount, Brett and Reggie.

If Henderson is even close to that we'll be talking about him in the same breath with Brooks, Cal, and Palmer.  Would be magnificent, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Edited September 15, 2022 by DrungoHazewood
He only missed significant injury time in one year, so edited to reflect that.

[Just Regular]

10 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Hyde’s job is easy. Write down 3rd and 3rd base. Set it and forget it. 

How about 2nd?   ~18 more PA on the season, and a few of those extras probably would fall in crucial 9th inning situations.

As much as Rest is a Decision Science Sig has done for a long time, Gunnar next year should probably get as close to the Ripken things as any Oriole will be allowed to get these days.    

Mullins got 159 games and 675 PA last year, would like to see him with a shot at those.

[CharmCityHokie]

1 hour ago, Oriole1940 said:

I know that Machado was a super ball  player, but barring in jury, I believe Gunnar is going turn out to be the better of the two,  His speed separates them IMO.  And he appears to do it so easily, with little obvious effort.  And as previous poster said, he is a smart player.  

Machado is on track to have a good chance of going into the Hall of Fame. It would be fantastic if Gunnar could match that, much less better it, but I think it's wayyy too early to compare him to one of the best players of the last 20 years.

[Gatoriole]

11 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

I don't want to hijack this into a Kevin Gausman re-hash thread but this was infuriating to read.  

Why is that infuriating to read? The high fastball wasn't as popular across MLB at that time, not just the Orioles. Pretty bizarre for that to infuriate you.