Gunnar Henderson, Pete Alonso homer in victory

Batting out of the five hole for the first time since 2023, Henderson had one of his best nights of the season in Friday’s win. Henderson singled in his first two at-bats of the night and came around to score in the seventh inning after leading off the frame with a double. In the eighth inning, Henderson blasted a two-run homer off reliever Kevin Kelly to push the O’s lead to 6-2. Henderson has now homered 20-plus times in three of his last four seasons, and could see more opportunities lower in the order after tonight’s performance.

Appearing on Just Baseball, Olney was talking about the Orioles trading away Adley Rutschman and mentioned that the move could have ripple effects throughout the organization, including Henderson. The 25-year-old shortstop has two years of team control remaining through arbitration, but Olney fully expects him to test the free agent market. Of course, that possibility could be impacted by how Henderson plays. He’s had a poor season by his standards in 2026, slashing .218/.297/.393 with 18 home runs, 65 runs scored, 47 RBI, and eight steals. That has come with the worst barrel rate and hard-hit rates of his career. If he rebounds next season, we may start to hear conversations about whether or not the Orioles should trade him at peak value rather than letting him walk in free agency.

Henderson’s home run was his 18th of the season. He hit a solo shot of Bryce Elder in the fifth inning. Henderson has already eclipsed his home run total from last year of 17. His .184 ISO this year is still a far cry from his .248 ISO when he hit 37 home run in 2024. With only eight steals in 104 games so far, Henderson is on pace to fall short of 20 stolen bases, which is a mark he’d hit in each of the last two years. He’s hitting .223 with a .701 OPS and 45 RBI.

That’s a first for Henderson. He didn’t have even one double in his 13 previous games this month, and he hadn’t had multiple doubles in a game this season. We’re still waiting for a real hot streak from the 25-year-old. He homered nine times in April, but he’s added just eight more since. He opened the second half by going 1-for-13 with six strikeouts in the series against Houston, though the Orioles won all three games anyway.

Henderson led off the game with a single but was ultimately stranded at second base. He then contributed an RBI single and scored on an RBI knock by Pete Alonso during the Orioles’ five-run rally in the sixth inning. He also singled to open the eighth inning. The 25-year-old infielder finishes the first half hitting .224/.294/.403 with 17 long balls, 43 RBI and seven stolen bases through his first 439 plate appearances.

This is the first time Gunnar Henderson has hit leadoff since May 16th, when the Orioles played the Nationals. The Orioles are looking for a way to jumpstart their star shortstop, who is hitting .224/.333/.367 in 25 games in June.

Henderson reached on a single in the opening inning, but was cut down attempting to steal second base. He then singled again in the second and scored on a two-run single off the bat of Pete Alonso. Henderson then swatted a 386-foot solo shot off of Griffin Canning in the fourth inning, extending the O’s lead to 7-2. With his three-hit night, the 24-year-old superstar is now slashing .226/.293/.421 with 14 homers and 33 RBI.

A lineout, a strikeout, a groundout, a popout and a forceout; Henderson accomplished the cycle of lousy at-bats tonight. He’s hit .225/.282/.351 in 151 at-bats since the beginning of May. His bat speed is down, his EV numbers are down and his strikeout rate is up in is fourth full season as a big leaguer. He once seemed poised to maybe receive the biggest contract of all-time as a 27-year-old free agent. Perhaps that still could happen, but 2 1/2 months into his age-25 season, he’s basically an average regular.

Henderson is desperately trying to fight his way out of this early season malaise. This was his third multi-hit game out of his last seven and he’s now hit six home runs over his 30 games. That’s all great, but the issue has been truly stringing these strong games together and finding a way to get his on-base skills back to the elite place they once were. He may be a bit too focused on lifting the ball with a fly ball rate much higher than both his career and the major league average. That’s come with a slight increase in his swing tilt and attack angle while he’s chasing pitches out of the strike zone far more than ever before. The home runs are great, we just need to see more consistency.

Henderson victimized Tigers’ starter Framber Valdez for a 368-foot (100.8 mph EV) solo shot on a first-pitch curveball in the sixth inning. That got the Orioles on the board and pulled them to within a run at 2-1. Henderson also walked and struck out twice in the ballgame. For the season, the 24-year-old infielder is slashing a disappointing .230/.282/.438 with 11 homers and 25 RBI.