Fans who attended Sunday’s 11-3 win over the Royals saw Gunnar Henderson hit the longest Eutaw Street home run in Oriole Park history, 462 feet — the longest of 120 hit. But Henderson did much more last week.
The 21-year-old rookie infielder hit .526 (10-for-19) with three home runs, six RBIs, five runs scored, two stolen bases and a double. He had a 1.053 slugging percentage and a .550 on-base percentage.
Those numbers earned him the American League Player of the Week award. He’s the first Oriole to win it since first baseman Ryan Mountcastle on June 7th, 2021.
Henderson had multi-hit games in each of the three wins over the Royals.
“I feel like when I finally get to the man-strength phase I might be able to get a little bit farther,” Henderson, who’ll turn 22 on June 29th, said jokingly about his historic home run. “It feels like it’s been a long time coming. I feel like I’ve had a lot of good at-bats, put some good swings on the ball, and it was just a matter of time until I got one like that.”
Henderson’s average has climbed from .201 to .236.
“It just goes to show me that no matter what you’re going through you’re going to get through it,” Henderson said. “Just keep swinging and just keep trusting the process. It’s hard to do. I’ll be the first one to tell you it’s really hard to do in the moment.”