The Alabama kid who went from No. 42 in the draft to an MVP candidate

After a stretch of days where another MLB Draft has come and gone and we’ve seen Gunnar Henderson start the All-Star game at shortstop for the American League, it is still somewhat remarkable that the Orioles got an MVP caliber talent with the 42^nd pick in 2019.

If you look back at some picks in that 2019 draft just ahead of Henderson’s selection by the Orioles, Tampa Bay took JJ Goss, Pittsburgh selected Sammy Siani, the Yankees took T.J. Sikkema, the Twins took Matt Wallner, who at least has made the majors. With a selection at No. 40 that draft, the Rays took pitcher Seth Johnson, who is now an Oriole.

Those teams could have had Gunnar.

A few days ago in the Baltimore clubhouse, Henderson, from Selma, Ala., remembered thinking as that draft approached that he would go higher than he did.

“Yeah. I had talked to some scouts, and they made it sound like I would definitely be their (team’s) pick if I fell to them,” he said. “But I was also told draft night, always expect the worst. Stuff like that happens. It was definitely a whirlwind of a night for me.”

Henderson is such a driven player, I wondered if falling to No. 42 then is part of his drive now?

“I mean, I have always had a lot of self-motivation so I wouldn’t say it motivated me. But you kind of look at, yeah, I know I could have gone higher. But I’ll just go out there and prove it. But like I said, I have my own self-motivation about how good I want to be and how good I think I can be. That is the standard I try to hold myself to.”

So how good does this player with 28 homers and a .956 OPS think he can be?

“I mean, I feel like just the standard I hold myself to, I want to be the best baseball player. And I like to shoot for the stars to continue to do that and just try to work hard each and every day to hold myself to that standard to get better and help this team win.”

Henderson and the Orioles has obviously been a great match, a player driven to get better and a player development operation ready to help him do just that in every way possible.

“Definitely honored to represent the O’s,” he said before heading to Texas. “A lot of amazing players have represented the Orioles in the past and to follow in their footsteps is going to be pretty special. Looking forward to it.”

And having Henderson, Adley Rutschman and Jordan Westburg, three homegrown players in the All-Star game speaks to the O’s player development system, noted Henderson.

It speaks to how far an entire organization has come in a few short years.

“A testament to the guys we have here that guided us on the way up and just the guys that they draft," he said. "We are just kind of meshing together and it creates if you want to call it work, a good work environment. It allows us to enjoy coming to the field and brings out the best in every player that is here. You enjoy being around these guys rather than just having some guys you might not enjoy that could bring you down. Everyone here just enjoys being together and that allows us to be loose and play our best baseball.”

And he told me he would enjoy an All-Star experience that included friends and former minor league teammates.

“Definitely cool. Westy and I played, seemed like from Low-A all the way up to Triple-A we played together. Got to share the field with Rutch a couple of times in GCL ball and met him back up here. So been a pretty cool little journey for us so far.”