Gunnar Henderson 2024

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, Il BuonO said:

And as long as he isn't whining about lost HRs at the Great Wall of Baltimore.

IMO, that's a good thing.  Means we robbed one from him and he's upset about it.

[Il BuonO]

3 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

IMO, that's a good thing.  Means we robbed one from him and he's upset about it.

Yes! But I liked him before that and now? Meh (guy who makes excuses), he's good, but most of all he plays for the rich boys club. 

I've heard that new owner for the Orioles is a pauper, leveraged his mom and pop hardware store or some such stuff!

[DrungoHazewood]

2 hours ago, RZNJ said:

I’m not worried about it.  If Gunnar doubles his first half numbers it will be one of the greatest seasons ever, particularly for a SS.  At the age of 22/23.  Good enough for me.

I'm pretty sure that the all time record for first half homers by a shortstop is 27 by ARod, in both '98 and '02. So Gunnar needs two more before the All Star break. 

At 5.9 rWAR through 80 team games, if he were to continue like this he'd end up around 11.9. It's obviously presumptuous to say he's going to do that, but the all-time record for rWAR by someone who played at least 100 games at short is a tie at 11.5 by Cal ('91) and Honus Wagner ('08). Those are the only two 11-win seasons by a shortstop in history. And this feels like I'm jinxing him, but 11.9 would be tied with Lou Gehrig ('27), Babe Ruth ('20) and Barry Bonds ('01) for the 6th-best season of all time at any non-pitching position.

In 2002 Miguel Tejada was the AL MVP as a SS. His season total rWAR was 5.7. In 1970 Boog Powell was the AL MVP with 5.1 rWAR. Eyeballing the whole list I think there have been at least 25 MVPs who had a lower WAR total than Gunnar has through June 27th.

Edited Thursday at 17:55 by DrungoHazewood

[DrungoHazewood]

And if I really want to jinx Gunnar, I could point out that the top 50 single season performances of all time (down to about 10.2 rWAR) were all put up by either Hall of Famers, players who clearly will be in the Hall when they retire, or would definitely be in the Hall if not for PEDs. The best single season (non-pitchers) of all time by someone who legit isn't in the Hall is Al Rosen's 1953. 

[Just Regular]

Szymborski in chat today mentioned his mid-year ZiPS forecast movers coming up soon, and then also had this detail:

12:57

Kvn: It seems like a crazy thing to say but it almost feels like Gunnar is going under the radar a bit. He’s on a 12 WAR pace!

12:57

 Dan Szymborski: He’s actually now #1 in ZiPS five-year WAR

[Too Tall]

And yet, we spend more time talking about Jackson Holliday on this site than Gunnar? Do we take Gunnar for granted even after such a short time? Or, is it we just can't get our heads around the O's have such a generational player and afraid we may jinx the script. Enjoy The Ride. The Big Red Dog is loose.

[OriolesUpAndDowns]

This thread made me go look up ARod’s stats.  Wow 

 

Age 20: .358 BA, 1.045 OPS, 54 doubles and 36 HR’s.  
 

Somehow he finished 2nd to Juan Gonzalez in the MVP voting

[baltfan]

20 minutes ago, OriolesUpAndDowns said:

This thread made me go look up ARod’s stats.  Wow 

 

Age 20: .358 BA, 1.045 OPS, 54 doubles and 36 HR’s.  
 

Somehow he finished 2nd to Juan Gonzalez in the MVP voting

It seems crazy but Gonzalez started the season off really hot and was on pace for much of the season to break the 190 RBI record. That was more of a thing back then. 

[Bemorewins]

1 hour ago, OriolesUpAndDowns said:

This thread made me go look up ARod’s stats.  Wow 

 

Age 20: .358 BA, 1.045 OPS, 54 doubles and 36 HR’s.  
 

Somehow he finished 2nd to Juan Gonzalez in the MVP voting

Different era. They were allowed to freely use PEDs then.

[OriolesUpAndDowns]

Just now, Bemorewins said:

Different era. They were allowed to freely use PEDs then.

McGwire had a .730 SLG that year.  LOL

[Ripken]

Incredible season so far.  I really hope this kid stays in Baltimore for a long time.  This is a franchise with beloved career guys like Brooks, Palmer, Eddie, Cal and others.  Watching Manny leave really sucked.  I don't want Gunnar spending the majority of his career somewhere else.  I know that decision is down the road a while but throughout the last season and a half there's this little gnawing truth that none of these kids have been extended yet.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

3 hours ago, OriolesUpAndDowns said:

This thread made me go look up ARod’s stats.  Wow 

 

Age 20: .358 BA, 1.045 OPS, 54 doubles and 36 HR’s.  
 

Somehow he finished 2nd to Juan Gonzalez in the MVP voting

Counting stats mattered more back then and even though OPS wasn't really a thing it was close with Gonzalez at 1.011 in 1996. Also he had 47 home run and 144 RBIs on a playoff team.

Also it's ARod is anyone really that upset he missed out an award.

[Philip]

I dislike long-term contracts because they usually don’t turn out. But if we gave that guy 10/300 would he take it? He could be Mike Trout.

Plus, we’re legitimate World Series contenders and the angels never were.

Edited Friday at 03:19 by Philip

[Cuellar35]

I find the 2019 draft fascinating now.  All the talk at 1 was between Adley and Witt Jr.  We basically got both.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

29 minutes ago, Cuellar35 said:

I find the 2019 draft fascinating now.  All the talk at 1 was between Adley and Witt Jr.  We basically got both.