Orioles may already have a tough Gunnar Henderson decision coming up fast

Eric Cole

Baltimore Orioles v. New York Yankees / Michael Mooney/GettyImages

At the plate, the Baltimore Orioles know that they have something special in Gunnar Henderson. Even in a "down" season, Henderson still put up 5.3 rWAR and a .787 OPS. Given what he did in 2024 when he placed in the top 5 of MVP voting, it is fair to say that Henderson has the greatest ceiling among all of the Orioles' hitters and is a guy that will hopefully be in Baltimore's lineup for years to come. However, his future defensive position on whatever team he plays for may not be quite as certain.

On the surface, Henderson looks like a guy built to be a shortstop. He has long limbs and moves around well for a guy his size, and his arm is a cannon. In terms of highlight reel plays, Henderson does not have a shortage of them, which has led to the impression in the public that he is a surefire plus shortstop.

Unfortunately, a closer look at Henderson's profile and trajectory creates some level of concern that a position change could be coming sooner than anyone would like.

Gunnar Henderson's defense at short should have Orioles fans wondering if a move to third base is coming

To be very clear, Henderson is not an actively bad shortstop, and no Orioles fan should expect him to get moved in 2026. Baltimore is currently committed to the plan of keeping him at short for now, and with his arm strength, it is going to be hard for him to be bad enough at other aspects at short to justify an in-season switch.

However, it is hard to ignore that Henderson's actual defensive value isn't where you necessarily want it from a star shortstop. In terms of OAA, Henderson has never really excelled in the majors, and in 2025, he actually regressed in a real way as he posted -3 Outs Above Average. The arm strength remains, but being a bottom 20% defender does make one wonder if Henderson will be well-served by a position switch in the coming years.

With his arm, Henderson could slot in at third base relatively easily, and his bat certainly would profile over there. It doesn't hurt that Henderson has previous experience at third from early in his MLB career. There is a world where he has to move to left field if he really slows down and the infield no longer makes sense, but that is years down the road, and his skill set (particularly his arm) feels wasted at second base.

Whatever change (if any) comes, Henderson's defensive value is an open question and one fans may want to start asking real questions about. Even with his star power, Henderson may need to accept that his best path to future success does not include playing shortstop for the rest of his career.

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.