A look at a player who may be the next O's top 100 prospect

When he arrived at the Orioles' alternate camp at Double-A Bowie on Aug. 7, he became the youngest player on the field there at 19. But also among those with one of the potentially brightest futures. He would face pitchers more advanced than he would have been facing in a normal 2020 season, but that would also eventually prove a great benefit.

And the fact that shortstop Gunnar Henderson was holding his own by the end of that camp was further verification that the Orioles made a solid draft pick when they added him at No. 42 overall in June 2019 out of an Alabama high school. Those that believe he is on a path to becoming the club's next top 100 national prospect saw nothing to change their minds at Bowie last summer.

Both MLBPipeline.com and Baseball America rank him as the current O's No. 6 prospect and both rate him with three plus tool grades. He grades out at 55 on the 20-80 scouting scale with his hit tool and power. He gets a 60 grade for his arm and 50 grades for fielding and running. So no below average tools for a kid that, at 6-foot-3 and 195 lbs., still could grow a bit.

The Orioles and their fans can dream on a future plus defender at the premium position of shortstop. One with a potent lefty bat that could produce for average and power.

He has some physical skills that might enable him to stay at shortstop, but even if he outgrows the position or can't handle it later at some point, his bat could play more than fine at third base.

When he last played in games, it was after the 2019 draft for the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Orioles. He had a solid summer for a team that went 38-15 and posted the best record in the GCL. A hurricane canceled the playoffs. But in 29 GCL regular season games, he batted .259/.331/.370 with five doubles, two triples, a homer and 11 RBIs.

Henderson got better as the season went on, posting an OPS of .758 in August after recording one of .612 in July. He batted .273/.333/.424 in August and hit .292 over his last 19 games.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde got good reports this summer out of Bowie on Henderson and then saw him play for a few days during instructional league in Florida.

"That was fun to watch him," Hyde said recently in an interview on "Inside Access" on 105.7 The Fan. "I was there the last four days of instructs. Saw him play in a few games, watched him hit a little bit on the back fields and watched him take ground balls. It's physical. It's big. He's got big shoulders and a really nice arm and he's super athletic. The swing from the left side, they made some nice adjustments from where I saw him before in a year until now.

"The swing adjustments have really improved and he's really driving the baseball. We have high hopes for Gunnar. I was really impressed with what I saw. The physicality of him. Looks like Corey Seager type shoulders, maybe a little bit thicker. And really athletic and young. The strides that I've seen him make from when he got drafted to now is impressive."

While catcher Adley Rutschman will always be the first draft pick by executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias with the Orioles, Henderson will always be second.

He was the first selection of the second round, No. 42 overall, out of Morgan Academy in Selma, Ala. He was a two-sport star there and was the Player of the Year in the Alabama high school ranks in both basketball and baseball. But Henderson said baseball was always his first love and he gave up a scholarship to play at Auburn to sign an overslot $2.3 million bonus with the Orioles.

Triple-A Norfolk manager Gary Kendall watched him play this summer at Bowie's Prince George's Stadium.

"That was the first time I saw him," Kendall said last week. "But he had played just one season of professional baseball and then faced older guys. But I saw a lot of maturity. How he handled failure and his successes. He was just very mature. I spent more time with him, along with Buck Britton and Ramon Sambo, working on his defense more than hitting.

"But just the amount of work he knew he needed and to get that done and the way he went about it, was just really impressive. That was as impressive as much as that he did get better. His approach to wanting to get better, how he was open to learning, he would really listen and you saw the improvement on a day-to-day basis. He's one of those guys you couldn't hit him enough groundballs."

Kendall confirmed that Henderson was holding his own against the older, more experienced pitchers and players by the end of the Bowie camp.

"That is what I saw," Kendall said. "His game play was very impressive. The way he played short. You always hear the question, 'Can he stay at short?' That is always like the million-dollar question. When we left that site, we felt he possessed the type of traits you want to see at shortstop. What we saw from him in games, he got rewarded with the hard work that was put in by him and the coaches.

"He's a plus runner and I think he can have a plus glove with a better than average arm. You know, it's so hard to project him offensively to say he's going to be an above-average major league hitter because that's a pretty damn good hitter. But he's got the ability to hold his (own) offensively, with some power. The ball takes off. He puts some spin on the ball and can really swing the bat. Hits the ball gap to gap and backspins the ball. This guy will have a lot of tools for us. He can do some damage offensively."

And Kendall feels Henderson could stay at shortstop as he goes through the minors.

"I do, I really do," Kendall said. "I have no doubt he'll put the work in. He'll get stronger and fill out that frame. You know, Buck Britton was spearheading the infield play and with Ramon and myself (and) we got him to take some better angles and approach to ground balls that made his arm play even better. No reason that can't be a better than average arm with a possibly better than average glove in the future."

For even more on Henderson: Click here to read a profile I did with Henderson back in April, when we recorded a Zoom video interview where he talked about being drafted and his time in the GCL with the Orioles.