O's Matt Blood on Gunnar Henderson's move up and more on the farm

He recently moved into a couple of top 100 prospects lists and now Orioles infield prospect Gunnar Henderson is on the move again, this time further up in the Baltimore farm system.

The Orioles announced a series of minor league roster moves and promotions Sunday, which included Henderson's move from low Single-A Delmarva to high Single-A Aberdeen.

Henderson did not play in Sunday's Delmarva game, but had a quite a run with the Shorebirds. Over 35 games, he hit .312/.369/.574 with 11 doubles, a triple, eight homers and 39 RBIs. He leaves that league ranked 10th-best OPS at .944, and second in homers and RBIs. His bat did cool a bit this month. He recorded an OPS of 1.004 in May and it was .863 in June. For a time, Henderson led all of the minors in RBIs.

Baseball America rates his as the Orioles No. 6 prospect and No. 89 in their latest top 100. MLBPipeline.com has Henderson as the club's No. 5 prospect and No. 93 in its top 100.

Orioles director of player development Matt Blood was a guest on my "Extra Innings" radio show yesterday on 105.7 The Fan and talked about Henderson moving up.

"He's just performed very well there in Delmarva, one of the best players in the league," Blood said during the radio interview. "He is young, but you feel like with his performance and experience at the alternate site last year, which was very good, and being in major league spring training for most of that and then his performance so far, an OPS close to 1.000, felt like moving him to Aberdeen was the right challenge. Now he will essentially get out of his comfort zone a little bit and hopefully continue to progress toward his ultimate goal."

Henderson's move was one of several the club is making for when the minor league games resume on Tuesday.

The Orioles are also sending outfielder Yusniel Diaz and first baseman J.C. Escarra from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk. They are moving infielder Toby Welk, outfielder Kyle Stowers and right-hander Kyle Brnovich from Aberdeen to Double-A Bowie. In addition to Henderson, they are moving outfielder Dylan Harris and first baseman/outfielder Trevor Kehe from Delmarva to Aberdeen. They are moving infielder Yorkislandy Álvarez and outfielder Lamar Sparks from extended spring training in Florida to Delmarva.

Are the Orioles being aggressive with these latest promotions?

"I wouldn't say we're being aggressive," Blood said. "I would say we're just trying to move players to where they are going to be challenged appropriately. You know, some of these moves are to get players closer to age appropriate. Some of the moves are to move players from where they are excelling to a level where they may be challenged a little bit.

"That is ultimately where growth happens, is through struggle and through challenge. That is what we want to see from the system is players continually catching up to the level, being one of better players in the league and then moving them on so they can be challenged again."

One of those players recently challenged with a promotion was infielder Jordan Westburg, the No. 30 overall pick in the 2020 draft out of Mississippi State. He got off to a torrid start with Delmarva that produced an OPS of 1.075. When he moved up to Aberdeen, he got off to a bit of a slow start. But he hit his first homer at that level Sunday and is 8-for-19 over his past four games. In 15 games with the IronBirds, Westburg is now hitting .274/.357/.419 with four doubles, a triple, a homer and 13 RBIs.

Westburg recently got the challenge of a move up and now is warming up to the higher level. And now his buddy, Henderson, is about to join him at Ripken Stadium.

"He's a great example of a guy that was challenged and now he's starting to acclimate and had a nice couple of days and now his OPS is up around .800 already," said Blood. "So he's on the right track there. It will be similar to what it was (for he and Henderson) in Delmarva. Shortstop and third base, those two guys will play a lot of those two positions. They are great friends and great rivals. It's almost like a brotherhood between those two and they push each other every day, so it will be great their development to be there together and pushing each other every day."