Only two players have hit 10 or more home runs in the 2024 season, and one of them plays for the Baltimore Orioles. Gunnar Henderson is an AL MVP candidate just 212 games into his MLB career.
He hit his 10th home run in an April 29 win over the New York Yankees, tying Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels for the most in 2024.
It prompted Orioles manager Brandon Hyde to make a statement postgame that seemed more like a warning than acknowledgement.
“He’s 22 years old,” Hyde told MASN Sports on April 29. “It’s pretty scary how good this guy’s going to be. How good he is already.”
Henderson’s age and play coincided within the history books on April 29. According to the Orioles, he’s the youngest player to record double-digit home runs before May 1.
He passes Trevor Story, who was 23 when he hit his 10th home run prior to May 1 in 2016.
Slashing .289/.352/.632 with 10 home runs and 23 RBIs, Gunnar Henderson is leading the charge for the 18-10 Baltimore Orioles.
His case for the AL MVP is a real one, as his name continues to populate amongst the chatter of early leaders.
Henderson’s Odds for AL MVP
According to Vegas Insider, Henderson has the third-best odds for American League MVP across all of FanDuel, BetMGM, and DraftKings.
Juan Soto of the New York Yankees and Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals have the first and second-best odds respectively.
Henderson edges them both in home runs and slugging percentage this season, per Stathead, but every other statistical category goes to one of the two front runners.
How the Orioles’ season finishes, and how he plays through the team’s next 134 games, will determine if he’s a true contender for the award when all is said and done.
So far, so good.
But it’s pitching, not the Baltimore offense that could tell the story of this season when all is said and done.
Grayson Rodriguez Helps to Shutout Yankees
Starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez bounced back after a forgettable April 23 outing against the Angels.
The 24-year old allowed 7 runs and a career-worst 11 hits through 4 and 1/3 innings in the 7-4 loss. He bounced back against the Yankees, throwing 5.2 scoreless innings against the star-studded pinstripe offense.
“Obviously, any time you keep them off the board it’s a good night,” Rodriguez told MASN Sports postgame. “A little wild trying to find the strike zone. Obviously had some traffic there, a lot. Just trying to limit that next time.”
His ERA drops back down to a 3.71 after hiking up to 4.45 with the loss to the Angels.
Hyde praised the Orioles’ youngest starter after the win over New York.
“Grayson was absolutely outstanding,” Hyde told reporters postgame. “Really good fastball and changeup tonight. Kept them off balance extremely well. Pitched out of a couple jams, too, against the middle of the order, so outstanding job of pitching.”
And Rodriguez made sure to credit the bullpen for completing the shutout after he was pulled in the top of the sixth inning with two runners on base.
“The bullpen was lights-out,” Rodriguez said. “Defense was great, Rutsch was great. But yeah, the bullpen was special tonight. It was a lot of fun to watch.”
Danny Coloumbe earned the save after inheriting a runner in the top of the ninth inning from Cano. Baltimore’s pitching staff has had an up-and-down start to 2024, but it seems everyone is catching stride when it matters most.
Gunnar Henderson being one of the hottest bats in baseball certainly helps.
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