Gunnar Henderson is only halfway through the 2024 season. He’s already having a campaign for the record books.

Henderson reached the official midpoint of the Orioles’ season Thursday with 6.0 WAR (wins above replacement) by FanGraphs’ calculations. Not only does that lead the majors this year, but that’s already tied for the third highest total by an Orioles hitter in the last 15 years — and there’s still 80 games to go. He’s as much in the running for American League Most Valuable Player as anyone.

With the Orioles hunting for a return to the playoffs in their defense of their AL East title, they’ve needed every bit of Henderson’s production — especially with the New York Yankees in a virtual tie with them for the division lead. Offensively, they’ve tried to get the most of Henderson’s talents by leading him off against right-handed starters and, as the season has progressed, batting him cleanup against lefties.
In addition to Henderson having the platoon advantage against righties, batting him leadoff against the majority of starting pitchers ensures most opponents will see Henderson at the plate as much as possible. Henderson, who has missed one game this season for rest, entered play Friday with the third-most plate appearances of any hitter in baseball.

“I think it’s mainly just getting on base,” Henderson said of why he’s mostly entrenched at leadoff. “I try to do a good job of just getting on base any way I can and whether that’s hitting a double or getting a walk and stealing on a base, and then the guy behind me hits a single and I score. So, I like to get on base. I like to run. I usually try to score on any ball in the gaps. I enjoy trying to score for the guy behind me.”

The leadoff spot also gives Henderson the opportunity to run freely on the base paths. The bases are often empty in front of him because he’s either leading off the game or the bottom of the lineup didn’t get on base. It’s allowed him to already set a new career high with 13 stolen bases.

“I’m giving him more freedom,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He’s more aggressive because he’s more comfortable. He hasn’t gotten any faster. He just probably trusts himself a little bit more right now and he’s looking to run more because I’ve freed him up a little bit more this year.”

However, Henderson has also been one of the league’s most prolific power hitters this season. He ranks second in the majors with 26 home runs and his 1.038 OPS with runners in scoring position is even better than his overall figure for the season. The problem is, hitting leadoff reduces the number of chances for Henderson to drive in runs.

That led to the Orioles using him in the cleanup spot against left-handers, moving players such as Adley Rutschman and Jordan Westburg to the top of the order to get on base ahead of him. Rutschman, Westburg, Ryan Mountcastle and Anthony Santander all hit from the right side against southpaws, giving the Orioles a plethora of lineup combinations to roll out ahead of Henderson that create RBI opportunities.

“I think it’s probably just trying to get our best hitters the most at-bats,” offensive strategy coach Cody Asche said of Rutschman hitting leadoff last week for the first time this season. “We’ve kind of run with this construction against left-handed pitching kind of lately, Gunnar in four hole. You know, Adley, Mounty, Tony, they crush lefties, get them the most at-bats. That’s probably the thinking there.”

But overall, the Orioles like Henderson in the leadoff spot even if it means losing out on a couple extra RBIs throughout the year. On average, there are more solo home runs league-wide than all other homers combined. Getting Henderson to the plate as many times as possible ensures they will get the most out of him by the end of the season. The only time they make an exception is when they hold a significant platoon advantage, a statistically significant advantage, over the opposing starter.

The trend isn’t a new one, but the Orioles are making sure to squeeze all they can out of Henderson’s historic season.

“Look at Philly with [Kyle] Schwarber,” Hyde said. “On-base, power, that’s going to be those type of guys you try to get there as much as possible. The prototypical leadoff hitter of the ’70s and the ’80s, where it was a speed guy and the No. 2 hitter was kind of the setup guy for the middle-of-the-order guys, lineups have just changed a little bit. I’m fortunate to have a guy [in Henderson] that is a speed guy and a power guy, can do a lot of different things leading off a majority of nights, always against right-handed pitching. So, yeah, it’s a luxury. It’s nice to have.”