Gunnar Henderson’s debut for the Baltimore Orioles last August set the stage for the 21-year-old infielder to take the majors by storm in 2023.
He was widely considered the top prospect in baseball heading into this season. He was the betting favorite for American League Rookie of the Year. He supplanted a Gold Glove winner as the Orioles’ starting third baseman.
Advertisement
And then the daily challenge of facing the best baseball players in the world became a reality.
After hitting .259 with a .788 OPS in 34 major-league games last year. Henderson broke slowly from the gate this season. He was hitless in his first eight at-bats, and four for his first 31, which dropped his batting average to .129 after the club’s 11th game. He’s slowly dug out of that deep hole in the last month, but has had only three multi-hit games since, including Wednesday night.
Henderson, who has talked openly about his offensive struggles, can take solace in several things during this difficult transition: One, he has been hitting much better lately; Henderson currently has a five-game hitting streak in which he is 6-for-18 (.333). He had had just one hit in 18 at-bats previous to his streak.
He also continues to draw walks, which has produced a .345 on-base percentage in 2023. He is playing better defense overall and appears to be settling in at third base, which is a fairly new position for the natural shortstop.
Perhaps most important, Henderson is not alone. A battalion of All-Stars and Hall of Famers have struggled at the beginning only to end up garnering Rookie of the Year votes on their way to outstanding careers.
The Athletic talked to three high-profile players in Orioles history — Hall of Fame infielder Cal Ripken Jr., Gold Glove outfielder Nick Markakis, and current starting first baseman Ryan Mountcastle — about their initial offensive woes, their mindset during those struggles and what advice they’d give to Henderson. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
The good news for Henderson: All three found their footing in May.
Gunnar Henderson
Age: 21
Through 145 plate appearances in 38 games in 2023: .195/.345/.373, .718 OPS, 4 homers, 8 RBIs, 26 walks, 44 strikeouts
A second-round pick in 2019, Henderson was promoted as a 21-year-old in August 2022 after thrashing Double-A and Triple-A pitching, hitting a combined .297 with a .946 OPS and 19 homers. He entered this season as an everyday player on the left side of the infield, either starting at third base or at shortstop if Jorge Mateo needs a rest.
Advertisement
Cal Ripken Jr.
Age: 21 in 1982
Through 82 plate appearances in 26 games to start 1982: .165/.185/.304, .489 OPS, 2 homers, 9 RBIs, one walk, 10 strikeouts
A second-rounder in 1978 and son of a longtime Orioles coach and instructor, Ripken debuted at age 20 in August 1981, hitting .128 with a .278 OPS in 40 plate appearances through 20 games. The Orioles traded incumbent third baseman Doug DeCinces that offseason to clear the spot for Ripken. He went 3-for-5 on Opening Day 1982, which included his first big-league homer. For the rest of April, he was 4-for-54, an .074 average. He didn’t get his average above .200 until May 13. Manager Earl Weaver stuck with Ripken, and Ripken ultimately won the Rookie of the Year Award with 28 homers, a .264 average and a .792 OPS in 160 games played. That triggered a Hall of Fame career (mostly at shortstop).
Nick Markakis
Age: 22 in 2006
Through 84 plate appearances in 26 games in 2006: .184/.262/.303, .565 OPS, 2 homers, 6 RBIs, 7 walks, 17 strikeouts
The No. 7 overall pick in 2003 skipped Triple A completely and made his Orioles’ debut as a defensive replacement on Opening Day 2006. He started the next game and homered for his first big-league hit. It was downhill after that, including an 0-for-16 skid and no multiple-hit games until May 5. Some members of the organization wanted to send him to Triple A in fear the quiet youngster’s confidence would be damaged. But the brass stuck with Markakis, who ended up hitting .311 with an .896 OPS in the second half of the season. He finished sixth in AL ROY voting and collected nearly 2,400 hits in a 15-season career.
Ryan Mountcastle
Age: 24 in 2021
Through 96 plate appearances in 25 games in 2021: .198/.229/.286, .515 OPS, 1 homer, 7 RBIs, 4 walks, 30 strikeouts
The No. 36 pick in 2015, Mountcastle made his Orioles debut during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and was a revelation, slashing .333/.386/.492 in 140 plate appearances. Like Henderson, he maintained his rookie status for the following year and was considered a leading candidate to win the award in 2021. But he was awful in April and a chunk of May, and whispers of his demotion began. He turned things around in mid-May, and Mountcastle eventually led the club in homers (33) and RBIs (89), placing sixth in ROY voting.
What was the beginning of your first full season like?
Ripken: I remember the feeling of trying to get comfortable at the big-league level. I was the third baseman coming out of spring training and hit a few home runs in spring training and I felt pretty good about that. I hit a home run on Opening Day, was 3-for-5 and I thought that everything was gonna be just like it was the rest of the time. And then I went four for my next 55. The thing I had to fall back on was Earl Weaver wasn’t the most empathetic manager you ever played for, but he showed me a lot of empathy. He called me into his office quite a bit and said “You’re playing really well at third. This is just the next level. We have confidence in you that things are gonna work out and I’m not going to send you down.”
Advertisement
Markakis: It wasn’t a good month, and you tend to remember the bad things more than the good things sometimes. It’s a struggle. It’s a battle. You’re in a new environment. It’s a lot faster-paced up there. You’re finally at the stage where you’ve been wanting to get your whole life. But on that level things are a lot quicker and it’s just a matter of adjustments, slowing things down, being around the right people and the coaching staff. I think it’s more a confidence thing than anything. You’re obviously there for a reason. The talent is not questioned. So, a lot of this game is the mental aspect. The mental part is the hardest thing and that’s what you’ve got to learn to control. All the talent in the world can only take you so far. The mental part, a lot of times, is the make or break. It’s just all about how you deal with it.
Mountcastle: It was not easy, especially being young. You have all the confidence in the world coming into the next year and then you struggle, and it’s like, “Am I not ready for this type of thing?” You have got people saying, “Send Mountcastle down” and all that stuff, and it can get in your head a little bit. You eventually get through it. All it takes is one swing and one at-bat to get that confidence going again.
Would you say the pressure you felt during that poor start was more internal or external?
Markakis: You can’t worry about what other people are saying. Look, if you fail 70 percent of the time in this game, you’re doing a pretty damn good job. It’s a lot of failure. And when you’re going bad, that percentage goes up, 80, 85, 90 percent of the time. I’ve been there, done that. It’s demoralizing, especially when you’re squaring the ball up and hitting it right at people and you feel like there are 27 guys out on the field and you can’t find any space. A lot of this is, how do you deal with failure and failure and failure?
Ripken: I’m sure I put a little pressure on myself. I mean, the Orioles were so sure that I was the next third baseman that they traded Doug DeCinces away. Maybe there was a little bit of external pressure that the expectations you could feel from everyone in trading Doug away to make room for you. But internally it’s putting pressure on yourself. I wanted to do well. I tried really hard. I was out early for batting practice all the time trying to get my stroke right, my feeling right, gaining some confidence. So, probably the biggest problem was the internal pressure that I was putting on myself that I wanted to make it happen as opposed to letting it happen.
Mountcastle: A little bit of both. You’ll hear people talk and it is what it is, you’ve just got to block it out. But besides that, yeah, it’s internal. You want to help the team win and you know when you are struggling you feel like you’re not really helping and it’s frustrating. I think you eventually learn to get through it, that it’s baseball.
Do you remember doubt creeping in as to whether you belonged?
Mountcastle: Yeah, you’re thinking about it. When you go home you are thinking about it. It starts to build, and it turns into Groundhog Day every day, and you’re going 0-for-4, 0-for-4, and it’s like, “Good Lord, get me out of here.” But eventually you get out of it. It’s not an easy game. It’s very tough mentally and physically. But you’ve just got to keep going, keep doing your job, go out there and compete.
Ripken: I never felt like, “Good lord, get me out of here” like Ryan. But I can relate to the “Groundhog Day.” It just seems like baseball is a lot of frustration, even when you’re hitting well. One of the greatest feelings is when you’re 0-for-3 and you get a hit in your last at-bat and then you’re 1-for-4 and your team comes away with a win. All of a sudden you feel things aren’t so bad. Or the reverse of that is you get a hit the first at-bat and then you go 0-for-3 and that 1-for-4 doesn’t feel so good. But it’s still better than getting blanked at the plate.
Advertisement
Markakis: Never. Never. Never did I allow doubt to creep in. You can’t do that. You have to be confident in yourself. You have to have confidence. You know yourself. You know what you’re capable of doing. It’s just a matter of figuring it out. And if you’re good and you’re meant to be there, you’ll figure it out and you’ll be on your way. But once doubt starts creeping in, I mean, the game is already against you. If you allow doubt or anything outside to creep in, it just intensifies it and makes things worse.
Did you ever think that maybe a reset in Triple A could help?
Markakis: No. Absolutely not. The natural instinct of it is that you know if you’re not performing well what happens. You get demoted to go work things out. That’s always in the back of your mind, but you’re always striving toward staying and playing. I was blessed with great guys around me and great coaching staffs that were willing to work with me.
Mountcastle: I remember going through it and thinking about it. I was hitting a buck-fifty after a month and a half and I was like, “Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad thing, blah, blah, blah.” But all it takes is one day. I remember the day. I had a good day in Washington and it sort of propelled me throughout the rest of the year. All it takes is one good game, getting that feel back and just being confident again up there (at the plate).
Ripken: No, I didn’t want to go down. … I’m thankful because I witnessed a lot of people that struggled, and they’d say “Well, he needs to go back down to the minors to find his confidence again.” Most every other manager I played for probably would have said, “Yeah, let’s send him back down. Let’s let him do that.” But Earl was adamant. “No. You tore up Double A. You tore up Triple A. You did everything in winter ball. You’re ready.” He took a lot of time to make sure that I was reassured that I’m not going to get sent down.
Could you physically feel when things were getting back to normal for you?
Mountcastle: Yeah, it’s almost like a relief. For me, I can watch video all the time, but everything looks the same to me. It’s more of a feel thing and a confidence thing and all it takes is one good game to get that feel of confidence back and propel you through the rest of the year.
Markakis: It could happen like that, that one swing and I’ve got it back. But for me, it was just an accumulation of you working and putting in the time and effort to get where you need to be. That all starts with you and the coaching staff and with the time they are willing to put in. … You put in the work and then you see the outcome of the work that you’re putting in, and it’s just kind of like a snowball effect. You get more comfortable and more experience and you just kind of get on a roll.
Ripken: There was one moment that I thought was a breakthrough. In Toronto. I went out for early batting practice and Earl came and my dad was throwing batting practice to me. Earl goes, “Stand where you want to stand.” Because everyone was telling me I’ve got to get closer to the plate. These guys are handling the outside corner. But I always liked standing off the plate and diving into the plate. I liked the ball out over the plate instead of having to pull off the ball. So, staying close was a better thing. I stood where I wanted and he goes, “Do you think you can cover the plate from where you are?” And I go, “I always have.” Then he goes, “OK, go ahead.”
Advertisement
So, the first pitch by my dad was on the outside edge, outside corner, and I kind of reached out and hit a little line drive to right field. The next pitch was on the outside corner, the outside edge again. I reached out and hit a line drive or ground ball to that side. Then I stepped out for a minute and I go, “Huh. This is a setup. Earl told him to throw every pitch on the outside corner.” So, then I started anticipating the ball was going to be on the outside corner and I hit a ball over the center-field fence. Then I hit a homer out to left-center on an outside pitch, and Earl goes, “I guess you can cover it.” And he walked away. So, that gave me the freedom to again do it the way I was comfortable.
During those early days, did you have a lot of voices in your ear?
Ripken: Everybody has an opinion on (you). They want to help you. Whether it was the pitching coach, whether it was any other players. Even Earl was trying to give me batting instruction. At one point I remember feeling a low point where even the bat boy was telling me how to hit when I was in the on-deck circle.
Markakis: Cal’s right. Guys, they want to help. They’re your teammates, and whether you want to hear it or not at the time, they’re going to try to help you as best as they can. And you should use those guys. I’m not saying, “Hey, one guy’s gonna be right.” But if you get five or six different opinions and kind of sit down and think about all those opinions, and then you kind of formulate your own thing, you can take something from here or take something from there. I know at times it’s frustrating, because there are a lot of people coming at you. Most of the time, it’s from guys that have been there a while and have done it and been successful. It’s something you should be thankful for and not look at it as a negative thing. Use your teammates.
What advice would you give Henderson?
Mountcastle: He has been putting together some good swings. He has been walking a bunch. His on-base is insane. I think he is doing a great job. He’s not trying to chase hits or anything. The hits will come. I guess the average will come, too. He will be fine. So, my advice is just keep going, I guess. Go out there and have fun.
Ripken: He seems to be confident. He does have a really good eye at the plate. He sees the ball well. I don’t know him personally, so I don’t know if he’s pressing or trying to make it happen. But I guess my advice would be to trust yourself. Let it happen. You’ve done it everywhere else. This is just a little bit better than Triple A (he laughs). Build your confidence in your pregame routine and then trust yourself in the game. But let it happen. Don’t force it.
Markakis: You’re there for a reason. You are the No. 1 prospect for a reason. Just trust yourself. A lot of people are going to try and throw their opinions at you, which is good. It’s always good to have other opinions. But, when it’s all said and done, trust yourself.
(Top photo: Tommy Gilligan / USA Today)