Henderson stands alone, crushes 35th homer to set new O's shortstop record
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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. 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 really special, just the caliber that they were. It’s really cool being in that conversation,” Henderson said after tying the record on Monday. “It’s something that I hold dearly.”
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 entered Wednesday with a team-best .895 OPS. He ranks second on the Orioles with 83 RBIs.
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Following the leadoff homer vs. Chicago, Henderson was 6-for-16 (.375) 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.
Henderson’s latest leadoff blast was also a game-tying homer, as he responded to Nicky Lopez, who led off the game with a home run off Orioles starter Albert Suárez.