Greetings on Tuesday, Camden Talkers! After an Orioles victory—especially when it over the New York Yankees and puts the team back in a tie for first place in the AL East—the light always seems to shine brighter in the morning.
The Orioles got off to a strong start to the week with a 2-0 victory against the Yankees, following a difficult series against the A’s over the weekend. Even though he wasn’t playing at his best, Grayson Rodriguez pitched 5.2 innings without giving up any runs. With Clarke Schmidt, the Yankees’ starter, the offense was unable to muster much, but Gunnar Henderson’s home run in the first inning gave the squad the necessary runs. The winning performance was crowned with a shutout from the bullpen.
How fortunate are we to be able to see Henderson every day, to speak? His 10th home run of the season, which ties him with Mike Trout for the major league lead, came yesterday night. That’s three more than any other 22-year-old in Orioles history, according to Sarah Langs.
Henderson gives the game his all, rivaling the best players of today. He can hit for power, get on base, and play excellent shortstop (albeit his arm can be frightening at times). He is aggressive on the bases and steals bases. He is a huge guy who is fast, not fast for a big guy. Jorge Mateo is the team leader in sprint speed.
As of the last day of April, Gunnar has a WAR of 2.1, per FanGraphs. That is second only to Mookie Betts in all of baseball.
He scored the game’s first two runs last night. The first occurred on a home run of his own, while the second was on a fastball hit to him. He stormed to first, advanced to second on a single, and then bravely tagged up to advance to third base before Juan Soto could throw on a fly ball. That allowed him to profit from a mistake. It’s fun to watch him play baseball.
