Gunnar Henderson is one small improvement away from being back in MVP conversation

Getting good defense from the shortstop position is so important that many teams are completely okay with playing an objectively bad offensive player at short as long as they provide good shortstop defense. The Baltimore Orioles' Gunnar Henderson is the rare kind of shortstop, providing most of his value on the offensive side of the ball while playing "good enough" defense to stay at shortstop. However, in a recent interview with MLB Network, Henderson indicated that he intends to make a leap on the defensive side of the ball in 2026.

Like it or not, WAR is a major factor in the MVP race. Fortunately for Henderson, he is excellent at accruing WAR. In 2024, he put up an incredible 9.1 bWAR, which had a lot to do with his 37 homers and 155 OPS+, but he also graded out well defensively in 2024, which pushed him to a Wins Above Replacement height 99% of players will never reach. So franchises have never had a player 9 WAR.

Gunnar Henderson's "stalking" approach to infield defense could be a difference maker in 2026

In 2025, Henderson experienced a dip in production at the plate and also regressed in the field. Being a 5.3 WAR player in a down year is impressive in its own way, but in 2026, Henderson has his eyes set on returning to his prior form, especially on defense. But where can these gains actually be made?

Well, in 2025, most of the damage from a fielding value perspective came early in the season. According to FRV, he was worth -4 runs at shortstop in April of 2025. From a fielding value perspective, that's a big hole for a player to dig himself out of. Henderson did his very best, and from July through the end of the season, he had a fielding run value of 3, finishing the season with an FRV of -1.

This one bad month ruining Henderson's year-long defensive statistics is not new. In 2024, from April through June, Henderson's defense was worth five runs. He was on pace to turn in a valuable season defensively at shortstop. Then, in July, he had a month-long stretch where every time he made a throw to first base was an adventure. He even knocked a cameraman in New York out of the game with a particularly errant throw. Fielding Run Value had him as being worth -7 runs that month.

In 2023, Henderson was worth four runs defensively from May till the end of the season, but he was worth -4 in April, making it so that at the end of the season, he was worth zero

On one hand, a trend like this is comforting. It means that for five out of the six months of the season, Henderson is a valuable defensive shortstop. It would be worse if you looked at his month-over-month defensive stats, and every month he put up a 0 or a -1. If that were the case, you would have to come to terms with the fact that, defensively, Henderson is just kind of mid. But that's not the case! Most months, he's an above-average defensive shortstop! He just has to stop tanking his whole season in one month.

On the other hand, how does the team prevent him from having these intense lapses in defensive ability? It's not like they can see the first bobbled ball and yank him from the lineup for a month until he looks better in pre-game warm-ups.

In that interview with MLB Network, Henderson said he found a mindset in 2025 that helped him strike the right balance of aggression and patience. The words he used were: "stalking the baseball". He then explained that he views the ball "as his prey".

"Stalking the baseball" is a bit more distinctive than more common adages such as "attacking the baseball" or "hunting the baseball". Stalking implies a patience that attacking and hunting don't. Whether Henderson decided on his own to "stalk the baseball" or if that was the direction of an infield coach, it would appear the approach worked in the second half of 2025, and if Henderson can carry that over for a full season in 2026, he could be the AL MVP.