Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson — the reigning AL Rookie of the Year — is ready to let loose

SARASOTA, Fla. — Gunnar Henderson wanted to be perfect.

The Orioles shortstop got his first opportunity to stick in the major leagues last year when he broke camp with the club out of spring training. He didn’t want to waste it, so he got away from the aggressive approach that helped him cruise through the minors and instead became so picky that he was taking strikes over the heart of the plate.

After about six weeks, with Henderson hitting well under .200, manager Brandon Hyde pulled him aside and reminded the then-21-year-old of the type of swings that made him such a dangerous hitter in the first place. Henderson stopped trying to be perfect, and what followed was a complete turnaround as he put together a season worthy of American League Rookie of the Year honors.

“Honestly, just got probably a little bit of nerves and just trying to not mess up, and whenever I got up there it was just doing that,” Henderson said. “[Hyde] came up and told me get a little bit more aggressive and that’s just something I’ve done in the minor leagues as well, and it made sense. But in the in the midst of it, you kind of lose focus on what you’re really good at. It just came back and that’s when it took off.”

Henderson’s initial quest for perfection was hardly a surprise for any coach who worked with him. He developed a reputation as one of the hardest workers in the Orioles’ farm system, a dedication to his craft that played a significant role in his development from a second-round draft pick into the consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball heading into 2023.

“Gunnar is so driven that sometimes you got to slow him down a little bit,” Hyde said. “He’s got an incredible makeup, unbelievable worker, plays the game as hard as anybody and you want him to enjoy it a little bit. But he is just so easy to coach and so fun to watch play.”

It’s hard to argue with the results. Henderson finished last season with a .255 batting average and an .814 OPS. His 28 home runs trailed only Ryan Mountcastle’s 33 in 2021 for the most in a single season by a rookie in franchise history. Even with his early season slump, Henderson still garnered down-ballot AL Most Valuable Player votes and won a Silver Slugger Award at the utility spot.

Though he was delayed at the start of camp because of a minor oblique injury, Henderson has picked up right where he left off by starting 7-for-11 at the plate. With a full season under his belt, the question now is, what is Henderson capable of now that he’s gotten comfortable?

The Orioles plan for him to make most of his starts at shortstop, where he had the most success last season. Henderson already feels like he got his sophomore slump out of the way — he spent a month in the majors at the end of 2022 — and has the experience to prevent any further skids from lasting very long.

“I hit that slump earlier in the year last year so I got that pretty much full force,” Henderson said. “I know how to get through it and I feel like it’s just a mental thing. A lot of people can put themselves in a hole thinking about that stuff, but I felt like I put in the work and put in the effort. Everybody’s going to go through one at some point again. You see even the veteran guys who’ve been through it so it’s just a matter of time but I feel like the experiences that you gain throughout the earlier years help you get through it quicker.”

Henderson isn’t chasing perfection anymore. He’s not chasing at all. Rather, he’s letting the game come to him and trusting that his preparation will help him know what to do when it arrives.

“Just trusting honestly the long process of things,” Henderson said. “It’s a long, long season so just getting myself out there, getting my body used to playing again and honestly just letting my instincts take over. It’s the biggest thing. Just trusting the ability I’ve developed over the course of the offseason and in spring training. This is going to be plenty enough to get us through the season and hopefully win a World Series.”