Gunnar Henderson sets Orioles shortstop single-season home run record

BALTIMORE — Some tremendous shortstops have played for the Orioles over their 70-year history, including Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., Miguel Tejada, Mark Belanger, Luis Aparicio and J.J. Hardy, to name a handful.

Gunnar Henderson has now achieved something none of them did — hit 35 home runs in a season.

On Wednesday night, Henderson led off the bottom of the first inning at Camden Yards with his 35th homer of the 2024 campaign, blasting a Statcast-projected 402-foot shot to right-center field off White Sox starter Jonathan Cannon in the Orioles’ 8-1 loss. It was Henderson’s 10th leadoff home run of the season, which ranks second in MLB behind only the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber (13).

Henderson set the O’s single-season home run record for a shortstop, breaking a tie with Ripken (who hit 34 in 1991) and Tejada (34 in 2004).

“It’s definitely something that I’m going to hold very dear to me,” Henderson said. “To pass those guys in something — in any type of Orioles history — is pretty special.”

“With 20 games to go, too,” manager Brandon Hyde added. “He’s having a heck of a season so far. Just doing a little bit of everything, and that’s some serious company when you’re on those lists and passing those types of players.”

It’s been a terrific season for Henderson, who is a full-time shortstop for the first time in his three-year big league career. He also played third base upon breaking into the Majors in 2022, then again during his American League Rookie of the Year-winning campaign in ‘23.

Henderson has already exceeded his home run total from last season (28), and the 23-year-old leads Baltimore in batting average (.280), on-base percentage (.367), slugging percentage (.538), OPS (.905) and triples (six). His 35 homers and 84 RBIs each rank second on the club, while his 25 doubles are tied for second.

Following his 3-for-4 performance vs. Chicago, Henderson is 8-for-19 (.421) with two homers and six RBIs over his past five games. He is heating up again after going 2-for-28 over his seven games prior to that span. The hot streak has coincided with his move back to the leadoff spot after previously getting a run as the No. 3 hitter.

“[Hyde’s] just trying to get me going again, and I’m just trying to help the team win,” Henderson said. “Obviously, it’s a long season, so the body kind of wears down. But I feel like I’ve been making strides in the right direction, kind of feeling out my body, and I feel like I’m making the right moves right now.”

Henderson’s latest leadoff blast was also a game-tying homer, knotting the contest at 1 with a loud response to Nicky Lopez, who led off the game with a home run off Orioles starter Albert Suárez.

However, that was the only offense for Baltimore, which failed to sweep both the three-game set and the season series vs. Chicago (an MLB-worst 32-109) after winning the previous six meetings of the year. It would have been the first time the O’s swept a season series with the White Sox over the 123 seasons in which the franchises have faced off.

“When you win the first two, you definitely want to win the last one, and so, very disappointed in that,” Hyde said. “We didn’t play good baseball tonight. Offensively, we didn’t put the ball in play enough. We just got beat. They played better than we did. They played with more energy, intensity.”

The Orioles (81-60) are currently even with the Yankees (80-59) atop the AL East standings. (New York was still playing at Texas at the conclusion of the Chicago-Baltimore contest.)

But the O’s have an opportunity to seize control of the divisional race in the upcoming weeks. They host the Rays (69-70) for a three-game set this weekend, then play four more series against teams not in postseason positions — the Red Sox, Tigers and Giants.

“Obviously, want to win as many games as you can, and every game matters at this point in the season,” Henderson said. “Don’t want to let any games slip away. Just go out there and keep playing hard and trying to win every game.”