Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson will begin the 2025 MLB campaign on the injured list as he continues to recover from a strained intercostal muscle.
General Manager Mike Elias confirmed that the 23 year old wouldn’t be available to kick off the season in his Sunday availability. The move isn’t a surprise given Manager Brandon Hyde’s recent comments, but is nevertheless a disappointing way for Henderson to kick off the year, following his breakout season in 2024.
“It’s definitely something we don’t want to linger into the season and throughout the season,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said recently. “You want to make sure that’s free and clear. He’s so important to us. We want to make sure he’s right and he’s not playing through any sort of injury or soreness the first part of the season.”
Across 159 games in 2024, Henderson hit 37 home runs, drove in 92 RBIs, and finished 4th in American League MVP voting. The 6’3″, 220lbs infielder’s talent has always been there, having earned a rapid promotion to the Major League ranks, and capturing Rookie of the Year honours in 2023.
But the injury, initially suffered on February 27th, isn’t one that the club wants to risk becoming a long term thing with their star shortstop. While Elias and Hyde didn’t tip their hand as to how they’ll fill the void at SS, moving Jackson Holliday to short, and sliding Ramon Urias over to 2nd base remains a possibility.
As part of his comments regarding Henderson, Elias also mentioned that southpaw Cade Povich would open the season as the club’s 5th starter, joining a rotation featuring Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano, Dean Kremer and Zach Eflin. Veteran Albert Suarez will assume a bullpen role as a result.
Baltimore will kick off their season on Thursday against the Toronto Blue Jays in a 3:07pm ET showdown.
Photo: Maryland GovPics. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.