Gunnar Henderson 2023

[spleen1015]

We have 2 of the best young players in the game. That's all I know!

[mddisney]

7 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I don’t think we know Gunnar’s ceiling yet.  The last 84 games he’s hit .277/.325/.541, which is an excellent slash line, but is there yet another gear there?   I feel like at a minimum he’s capable of posting a higher OBP than that without sacrificing other aspects of his game.  His K rate is 25.8% in that span, but I think he’s capable of lowering that, too.  The guy is very driven to improve, you can just tell it by his demeanor whenever he strikes out or hits some harmless grounder to the right side.  It will be fun to see what he becomes. 

In support of this was Gunnar being, imo, too passive to start the season.  When he got aggressive slugging went up but he took more walks and had more strike out.  I suspect he will adjust and the K's will go down, and you will be correct, Frobby. I think Gunnar has another level to unlock.  

[mddisney]

2 minutes ago, spleen1015 said:

We have 2 of the best young players in the game. That's all I know!

Three, you forgot Greyson!

[spleen1015]

5 minutes ago, mddisney said:

Three, you forgot Greyson!

But Grayson wasn't part of the conversation, so...

[Sports Guy]

15 minutes ago, Frobby said:

SG has made it known that he considers fWAR to be far superior to rWAR, so he’s got to live with that. 

Yes, I feel the stat that is clearly better is the better stat. 

I also think OBP is better than BA.

[banks703]

What a truly awful predicament the O’s have put us Hangouters in with these two guys, Gunnar and Adley, Adley and Gunnar. If only we could go back to the early 2000’s years when in 02 and 03 the O’s didn’t have a single prospect ranked in BA’s Top 100. Now we have to fight over who is the more generational, franchise changing, better 25 and under player. The life of an Orioles fan. Is there a harder life to live?

I’m on record as speculating that Adley has had a nagging injury for a while. I can’t pinpoint quite when but has not looked quite right to me behind the plate or on the bases so I suggest that it’s something in his lower half. That said, I’m not making an excuse for Adley not taking that next step with his game but it’s something that I continue to watch as a nagging thing in his lower half will impact hitting just as much as it does to defense.

I do think that between the two he’s definitely the more irreplaceable, especially if Jackson Holliday can remotely approach what Gunnar is doing (I personally don’t think he will for hit the same power or play defense at SS anywhere close to as well as Gunnar).

Gunnar has clearly overtaken Adley as the bigger power threat but we also have to look at what the O’s have asked of Adley this year, which is simply to get on base, an area for which he is clearly ahead of Gunnar right now. The O’s don’t need Adley to hit for power as much as they need it from Gunnar.

All things considered (like not having Westburg, Ortiz, Holliday in the system) I probably lean Gunnar because of his age and potential to become truly elite at the plate but I’m sure that I would come to regret not taking Adley. Adley may have years that he leads the league in OBP. Gunnar is never going to do that although I think there’s enough power potential that Gunnar could become a perineal 40 homer, 100 RBI guy.

I probably take Gunnar if I’m forced to choose between the two but man, I can’t imagine the O’s having the turnaround they’ve had these last two years without Adley.

What an awful problem to have, right? 

[G54377]

ROY odds now at -550 on DK. You don't want to call anything a lock (knock on wood), but hand that extra first round pick to Elias now!

[spiritof66]

44 minutes ago, banks703 said:

What a truly awful predicament the O’s have put us Hangouters in with these two guys, Gunnar and Adley, Adley and Gunnar. If only we could go back to the early 2000’s years when in 02 and 03 the O’s didn’t have a single prospect ranked in BA’s Top 100. Now we have to fight over who is the more generational, franchise changing, better 25 and under player. The life of an Orioles fan. Is there a harder life to live?

I’m on record as speculating that Adley has had a nagging injury for a while. I can’t pinpoint quite when but has not looked quite right to me behind the plate or on the bases so I suggest that it’s something in his lower half. That said, I’m not making an excuse for Adley not taking that next step with his game but it’s something that I continue to watch as a nagging thing in his lower half will impact hitting just as much as it does to defense.

I do think that between the two he’s definitely the more irreplaceable, especially if Jackson Holliday can remotely approach what Gunnar is doing (I personally don’t think he will for hit the same power or play defense at SS anywhere close to as well as Gunnar).

Gunnar has clearly overtaken Adley as the bigger power threat but we also have to look at what the O’s have asked of Adley this year, which is simply to get on base, an area for which he is clearly ahead of Gunnar right now. The O’s don’t need Adley to hit for power as much as they need it from Gunnar.

All things considered (like not having Westburg, Ortiz, Holliday in the system) I probably lean Gunnar because of his age and potential to become truly elite at the plate but I’m sure that I would come to regret not taking Adley. Adley may have years that he leads the league in OBP. Gunnar is never going to do that although I think there’s enough power potential that Gunnar could become a perineal 40 homer, 100 RBI guy.

I probably take Gunnar if I’m forced to choose between the two but man, I can’t imagine the O’s having the turnaround they’ve had these last two years without Adley.

What an awful problem to have, right? 

The Gunnar-Holliday comparison is one I find intriguing, because I know virtually nothing about Holliday, having seen him mostly in highlight videos. While I've seen some variety in opinions about how good Holliday will be, right now everyone is, understandably, pretty ga-ga over Henderson. In particular, he's a much better SS than I thought he would be.

I'm looking forward to seeing them side-by-side.

If you assume that when Holliday comes up the Orioles will have one or more established major leaguer at every position, what's his best defensive position? 

[banks703]

23 minutes ago, spiritof66 said:

The Gunnar-Holliday comparison is one I find intriguing, because I know virtually nothing about Holliday, having seen him mostly in highlight videos. While I've seen some variety in opinions about how good Holliday will be, right now everyone is, understandably, pretty ga-ga over Henderson. In particular, he's a much better SS than I thought he would be.

I'm looking forward to seeing them side-by-side.

If you assume that when Holliday comes up the Orioles will have one or more established major leaguer at every position, what's his best defensive position? 

In my opinion he profiles best as a 2B. He doesn’t have the arm strength that you’d want from your SS and while Gunnar is a bigger kid, Holliday doesn’t have the range that Gunnar has. Everyone predicts Gunnar to outgrow SS, which very well may happen but he’s looked really good there this year at 215ish lbs. If his body develops and he grows into a 235lb player, he very well may lose that range that has made him so good this year but only time will tell.

I can’t mention defense and not point out that even as good as Gunnar has been this year at SS, Joey Ortiz is still a tick above Gunnar. Gunnar has narrowed that gap for sure but Ortiz is the most elite defender in the system not named EBJ. 

[G54377]

So perhaps:

3B- Gunnar

SS- Ortiz

2B- Holliday

Westburg- UTIL/LF

 

Assuming all of them stay.

[Just Regular]

He's up to 7th in the AL in isolated power (Ohtani, Robert, Paredes, Adolis, Devers, Raleigh).     Some year he'll challenge for a league HR lead with a better rounded game than Davis or Trumbo ever had.

Having found some equilibrium at watching vs. crushing pitches, YTD Chase Rate percentile among qualified Bats settling in around 80.

[banks703]

12 minutes ago, G54377 said:

So perhaps:

3B- Gunnar

SS- Ortiz

2B- Holliday

Westburg- UTIL/LF

 

Assuming all of them stay.

This is what I have been suggesting. The only difference is that I think Westburg is trade bait. 

[bubloooo]

Ortiz should be traded before Westburg.

 

[Baltimorecuse]

Gunnar is a five tool player.  I'd love to see him in center field.  

If we trade Westburg we're nuts unless we get a real gem.  Westburg is the real deal.  

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

4 hours ago, G54377 said:

So perhaps:

3B- Gunnar

SS- Ortiz

2B- Holliday

Westburg- UTIL/LF

 

Assuming all of them stay.

I don't think all of them are staying and you will see one of them traded this off-season.