Orioles infield coach Miguel Cairo on Gunnar Henderson: “I want to have 26 guys like that’

Miguel Cairo played 17 major league seasons for nine teams. He played with some of the biggest names in recent baseball history — Wade Boggs, Fred McGriff, Albert Pujols, Ryne Sandberg, Ichiro Suzuki, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.

He played for three of the winningest managers of all-time — Dusty Baker, Tony LaRussa and Joe Torre.

So, the Orioles’ infield coach clearly recognizes greatness, and thinks Gunnar Henderson can be among those greats.

“Gunnar is an elite shortstop,” Cairo said at Yankee Stadium before the final scheduled game was rained out on September 27^th. “If you think about all the errors that he made, it was routine, a little routine double play. He knew what he was doing wrong … He will be better.

“He’s a winner. He likes to work. He worked really hard. He plays the game the right way. Every single day he shows up … He sometimes is hard on himself, a little too much. I want to have 26 guys like that.”

Cairo was most visible when the Orioles were on the field. He stood near manager Craig Albernaz, motioning players into their correct position. By necessity, he twice had infielders who’d never played there before.

On June 22^nd when the Orioles were in Anaheim playing the Los Angeles Angels, Blaze Alexander had to leave the game, and with Coby Mayo as the designated hitter, outfielder Leody Taveras was inserted at third for five innings The ball found Taveras only once, and he successfully fielded the grounder.

Cairo was especially active, repositioning Taveras for every batter.

On September 8^th, Carlos Narváez, who’d never played second base, was moved there for the ninth inning of a game against Cleveland. Fortunately, he didn’t have a chance, though that didn’t stop Cairo from being active.

In a tough year for the Orioles, he thought Mayo and Jackson Holliday made strides at third and second.

“Coby Mayo, for not playing last year, he was playing first, he came back,” Cairo said. “He made major improvements playing third base.

“Jackson Holliday made major improvements. He didn’t even have a spring training. You’ve got six weeks to get ready, to see live pitching, working on defense, working on baserunning.”

Holliday, who had surgery to remove the hamate bone from his right wrist in February, had his spring training in minor league rehab games. He had surgery after the season ended on his left wrist.

“The last three months, he improved really quick,” Cairo said. “First step, he was securing the ball. He was making the plays, double  plays got better. Everything got better.”

Pete Alonso’s first base play was also better.

“It was very simple. It was just being an athlete,” Cairo said. “Last year, he was squatting at first, trying to be close to the ground.”

Cairo wanted that changed.

“You just need to be an athlete. You need to be able to move your feet,” he told him. “Be able to rebound, and I think that’s what he did. It worked for him, and he kept doing it, and it was better, a really good version of Pete Alonso playing first base.”

Cairo, who was infield coach for the first half of 2025 and interim manager for the Washington Nationals in the second half, saw the Orioles’ infield defense improve late in the season.

“Every two months, we got better,” he said. “We played very consistent defense at the end of the season.”

Besides being the Nationals’ interim manager for the final 72 games in 2025, Cairo took over for an ill LaRussa and guided the Chicago White Sox for the last 34 games in 2022.

With his managerial experience, he thought Albernaz improved throughout the season.

“He did a really good job,” Cairo said. “You’ve got to remember, and I don’t want to make excuses for it, we got a lot of injuries in the beginning of the season, pitchers and position players out of position … He deserved a lot because he did a really good job as manager. For a first-year manager with all the expectations, he did a really good job.”

Cairo doesn’t often talk about his wide-ranging playing career and the all-timers who were his teammates.

“This game, you have a short memory. This game is so negative,” Cairo said. “You take one thing every day positive. what you do right and you keep going. You always see what the stuff that you have to improve. You work on it, but you want to master the thing that you do good. You master those things and you keep going.

“Something that I learned from Albert Pujols is you have to take every at-bat like it’s your last at-bat you’re going to take in your career. At the end of the season, you’re going to see, your numbers, they’re going to be there.

“I think it’s a mindset. You’re going to play every game like it’s the last game you’re going to play, and you play to win. Sometimes you’re going to go 0-for-4, sometimes you’re going to make errors. A lot of times if you stay consistent, you’re going to get some hits. You play to win, and you’re going to get some notice.” 

Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com