Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson continues to flourish in his second career in major league baseball while also publicly declaring his faith in God. Although he is only in his second full year in the majors, Henderson has already become second in home runs, behind only Houston’s Kyle Tucker. Henderson is on track to surpass Baltimore’s franchise record of 53 homers in a season, Sports Spectrum reports.
He’s also amassed 34 RBIs and a .271 batting average so far as he’s led Baltimore to a 29-17 record and second place in the AL East.
Despite a 3-1 Baltimore loss on Wednesday in St. Louis, Henderson hit home runs in four consecutive games.
“I’m running out of adjectives, honestly. I need to start bringing a thesaurus when I’m getting interviewed about Gunnar,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said Monday, according to MLB.com. “It’s unbelievable what he’s doing and how good he is — in every single way. There’s not one thing that he’s not really good at, and he’s 22 years old.”
Orioles outfielder Kyle Stowers echoed similar sentiments.
“He kind of skipped the whole ‘I’m going to be OK at Major League Baseball’ and went straight for ‘I’m going to be one of the best players in Major League Baseball,’” Stowers said, per The Baltimore Banner. “You’re just seeing him pick up where he left off, and you see the confidence he’s playing with. Man, he just competes and it’s fun to watch.”
Last season, Henderson won a Silver Slugger Award, was unanimously selected as American League Rookie of the Year, and led his team to 101 wins and the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
During his Rookie of the Year acceptance speech, Henderson attributed glory to God for his success.
“First, I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Henderson said. “Without Him, I wouldn’t be here tonight. I can’t thank Him enough for just blessing me with the ability.”
Prior to being drafted with Baltimore in 2019, Henderson had given his questions about his unknown baseball future to the Lord.
“I’m not worrying about it too much,” Henderson told his hometown Selma Times-Journal. “We’ll just see what team and if God has that plan the right team will like me. God has me. He knows what’s going to come. I’ll just put my faith in Him and everything will be fine.”
In his Instagram bio, Henderson describes himself as a “Child of God” and expressed gratitude to God when he made his MLB debut on Aug. 31, 2022.
“Can’t thank God enough for blessing me with this great opportunity. Looking forward to see what the future holds!”, he wrote at the time.
Henderson, along with some fellow Orioles teammates, occasionally meet for Bible studies and attend Sunday chapel services.
“[To] be able to have guys you can lean on in that sense and be able to both have that love of Christ and be able just to coach each other and help each other along the way, it’s been really cool to have those guys that I can lean on, especially being in my first year,” Henderson told WJZ News at the conclusion of last season.
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