Reunited in Aberdeen: Henderson moves up, joining Westburg and Mundy

ABERDEEN - To say the trio of Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg and JD Mundy helped the low Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds put up strong offensive numbers would be a bit of an understatement. And now that the trio is together again at high Single-A Aberdeen, they hope to begin bashing baseballs at the higher level as well.

At the start of June, Westburg and Mundy were promoted to Aberdeen, and as of Sunday, Henderson has joined them with the IronBirds.

At the beginning of the minor league season, when they played together in May for Delmarva, the Shorebirds went 17-6 and led their league in batting average, OBP, walks, slugging, runs and homers. Delmarva averaged 7.56 runs per game with a team OPS of .830. Westburg had a 1.075 OPS with Mundy at 1.038 and Henderson at .944 for the Shorebirds.

In their first three games together this week, Aberdeen did not light it up, and in fact got shut out Tuesday by Rome, won 3-2 in 11 innings Wednesday on Mundy's walk-off single and lost 4-3 last night.

A shortstop and sometimes third baseman, Henderson, 19, is the Orioles' No. 5 prospect, via MLBPipeline.com, and No. 93 in their top 100. Baseball America ranks him No. 6 in the O's top 30 and No. 89 in its national 100.

"It's just motivation to be blessed to be considered one of the top players," Henderson said during an in-person interview Thursday at Ripken Stadium, during which I had a chance to talk with all three players. "But never going to let it get in my head. I'll be the same as I have been since I got drafted. I want to keep proving myself and just continue to be the best I can possibly be."

This year, that has been pretty good. Over 38 games between the two teams, Henderson is batting .297/.376/.547 with 11 doubles, a triple, eight homers and 39 RBIs. He's scored 30 runs with a .924 OPS that ranks third among O's minor leaguers behind only Mundy (1.066) and Adley Rutschman (.962), with Westburg fourth (.909).

In his first two games with the IronBirds, Henderson went 0-for-4, but drew five walks. Then last night, he went 0-for-3 with a walk and three strikeouts.

"Feel like I've been seeing it really well and taking good pitches," he said. "I've swung at good pitches and taken the ones that aren't so close. So felt like I've done well at that so far."

Henderson's strong start to the 2021 season had some of its origins last summer when he was the youngest player at the O's alternate site camp at Bowie. There he batted against the likes of Grayson Rodriguez, DL Hall, Zac Lowther, Hunter Harvey, Dean Kremer, Bruce Zimmermann and Keegan Akin. More advanced pitchers than any he would have faced in A-ball last summer.

"I feel like I made a really big jump in my development, just being able to come up with plans and formulate that," Henderson said. "And just take it here and face some good pitching. Felt like I had some really good ABs (at the Bowie camp) and held my own. Just have to keep limiting the bad times and the good times will come.

"Think mainly after developing a plan, it was proving you could hit major league pitching. Because you don't get to see it. Now I know a little more about what to expect moving up. I felt like that was the biggest part."

Mundy, a first baseman, has been quite a find for the Orioles. With the draft consisting of just five rounds last June, he was signed by the club after the draft. Major league clubs could not offer more than $20,000 for players to sign after the draft, so essentially teams had to recruit these players to their organization. In Mundy, who played two seasons at Virginia Tech and his last two at Radford, the O's got a power bat who has been one of their best hitters on the farm this year.

Last season, he led the Big South in homers, RBIs and slugging. Then this season, between the Shorebirds and IronBirds, Mundy, 23, has hit .303/.414/.652 with 10 doubles, 12 homers and 39 RBIs in 36 games with a 1.066 OPS. In 18 games since moving to Aberdeen, he has eight homers, 19 RBIs and a 1.091 OPS.

Mundy, who believes he would have been drafted somewhere between rounds 10 and 15 had the draft been longer last year, said the Orioles, Yankees and Mariners were the three clubs that pursued him the most.

"I just ultimately ended up choosing the Orioles," said Mundy. "Felt it was the best fit for me. I talked to all the hitting coaches at each level and just talked to the staff in general and felt this was the best decision for my career.

"They showed me what the organization had to offer and things we would work on in practice and spring training. And stuff I would do during the season. That really sold me on the Orioles. I could have gone back and played one more year at Radford. But I just thought this was the best decision for me. Felt like I was ready to take the next step and really glad I made that decision."

Now, 12 homers later (which leads the O's minors), it looks like he indeed made the right choice. He said a combination of strength and putting quality swings on the ball has led to all the homers.

"I would say both (are important). You have to put a good hard swing on it," Mundy said. But I would say getting my pitch and not missing it is big. You sometimes only get one good pitch per at-bat, so make sure when you get it, don't miss it."

Westburg, 22, played on two College World Series clubs at Mississippi State. Then the O's selected him with the No. 30 overall pick last June. He got red-hot at Delmarva and at one point went 16-for-29 with eight straight two-hit games. A client of agent Scott Boras, Westburg has now played 38 games between the two O's farm teams. He is batting .308/.420/.490 with 10 doubles, two triples, four homers, 29 runs, nine steals and 37 RBIs.

He and Henderson will both see time at shortstop and third base in Aberdeen.

Westburg said some of the young hitting coaches the Orioles added in the last few years can present a strong blend of some old-school coaching with new-school teachings, including plenty of data and analytics.

"I think just the energy that each one of those hitting coaches brings to the table is awesome," Westburg said. "When you've got younger coaches that are energetic and passionate about what they do, it only rubs off on the players. I got to spend time with Ryan Fuller and Anthony Villa down at instructs (last year), and then in Delmarva with Patrick Jones, and now I'm with Tom Eller. All of those guys are really special and look to help players achieve the best outcome. That is something that every O's fan and every O's player, no matter where you are, should be pumped and proud about."

And even though he has a few years on Henderson, the two have become fast friends. They have a friendly competition going, with both drafted as shortstops. They help each other and push each other every day.

"It's the whole piece of iron sharpening iron," said Westburg, echoing a popular term on the O's farm. "There is an age difference between us, but, you know, he's a special player with unlimited ability. Being the older guy, I feel like it can be my responsibility, in a way, to help him learn in ways that maybe he has gotten the chance to learn. Just because I have a little more experience as a college player. I'm looking forward to continuing to play with Gunnar for hopefully a very long baseball career. He's a great kid, a special player. We make each other better and we compete every day.

"Our coach here in Aberdeen, Tim DeJohn, told us in spring training: Gunner's job is to be the shortstop and it's my job to be the shortstop. The only way that can happen is if one of us wins that job and pushes the other out. So there's that competitive fire between us to just keep pushing each other. There isn't any ill wishes between the two, only for the best. It's going to make him better and make me better. Hopefully, that ends up all the way to Baltimore."