Gunnar Henderson on joining the list of back-to-back MVO winners

Winning one Most Valuable Orioles award is quite special. Doing it two seasons in a row takes Gunnar Henderson to a whole new level.

By doing that today he joins a list littered with some of the best players in Orioles history.

Eddie Murray once did this five years in a row from 1981-1985. Others to get two in a row are Adam Jones (2011-12), Rafael Palmeiro (1995-96), Jim Palmer (1972-73), Boog Powell (1969-70), Cal Ripken Jr. (1990-91) and  Frank Robinson (1966-67).

Gunnar joins that list that includes four Hall of Famers.

“Yeah, just the history of this team and just the caliber of players that have come through this team. It’s pretty special to win it back-to-back years. There have been a lot of highly-touted guys that have won this award so I’m humbled to be part of that,” said Henderson.

He's batting .283/.366/.538/.904 with 29 doubles, seven triples, 37 home runs, 115 runs scored, 87 RBIs, 74 walks and 21 stolen bases in 152 games, all starts.

His ranking among American League leaders: runs scored (3rd), total bases (3rd), walks (3rd), triples (T-4th), homers (5th), extra-base hits (T-5th), hits (6th), on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS (7th).

“There are so many guys very deserving of this award and I’m very humbled to be accepting this award. A testament to the teammates on this team. They help me feel comfortable and there are a lot of deserving guys in here,” he said of winning the Louis M. Hatter MVO.

After his AL Rookie of the Year 2023 season, he has to this point, nine more homers than last year and an OPS nearly 100 points higher.

“Felt like early in the year I was doing what I really wanted to and then I started scuffling a little bit. Felt like overall it’s been a pretty consistent year. Been happy with that. But also even more happy with room to grow, room to learn and felt like the experiences I’ve gained the second-half are really going to help me down the road.”

And now he and his teammates want to wrap up a playoff spot (with a magic number of three) and still have time to chase the Yankees for the AL East crown. A walk-off win and a blowout win have lifted the spirits around here.

“We came out and felt like what we’ve been doing the whole year. Having fun and putting together really good at-bats. Feels like a turning point.

“We’re turning the corner at the right time and starting to get going again. Pitchers have been throwing the ball well for the past week and a week and a half and now the bats are getting going. Seems like we’re moving in the right direction," he said.

Henderson ranks third in MLB with an 8.0 FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement (fWAR). That would be tied for the sixth highest in team history and the best mark since Ripken set the club record with 10.6 in 1991. His 8.7 Baseball Reference WAR (bWAR) would be the third-best by an Oriole in a season behind Ripken (11.5 in 1991; 10.0 in 1984).

The last 10 MVO winners:

2015 - Chris Davis
2016 - Manny Machado
2017 - Jonathan Schoop
2018 - Adam Jones
2019 - Trey Mancini
2020 - Anthony Santander
2021 - Cedric Mullins
2022 - Adley Rutschman
2023 - Gunnar Henderson
2024 - Gunnar Henderson