Orioles SS Gunnar Henderson Thanks God for ‘Ability’ to Play Baseball
By Movieguide® Contributor
The Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson has quickly made his mark in the Orioles organization.
Per Sports Spectrum, “The 22-year-old is second in MLB with 16 home runs (behind only Houston’s Kyle Tucker and on pace to surpass Baltimore’s franchise record of 53 homers in a season) in just his second full year in the majors. He’s also accumulated 34 RBIs and a .271 batting average thus far as he’s led Baltimore to a 29-17 record and second place in the AL East.”
When asked to describe what Henderson means to the organization, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said, “I’m running out of adjectives, honestly. I need to start bringing a thesaurus when I’m getting interviewed about Gunnar.”
“It’s unbelievable what he’s doing and how good he is — in every single way,” he continued. “There’s not one thing that he’s not really good at, and he’s 22 years old.”
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Last season, Henderson earned the Rookie of the Year award. In his acceptance speech, he made sure to credit the Lord for his success.
“First, I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Henderson began to say. “Without Him, I wouldn’t be here tonight. I can’t thank Him enough for just blessing me with the ability.”
He openly speaks about his faith, declaring himself as a “Child of God” in his Instagram bio and often sharing his faith on social media.
“Can’t thank God enough for blessing me with this great opportunity. Looking forward to see what the future holds,” Henderson wrote in 2022 when he made his MLB debut.
He’s always trusted God with his baseball career.
“I’m not worrying about it too much,” Henderson told the Selma (Alabama) Times-Journal before being drafted in 2019. “We’ll just see what team and if God has that plan the right team will like me. God has me. He knows what’s going to come. I’ll just put my faith in him and everything will be fine.”
Henderson isn’t the only Christian athlete on the Orioles roster.
Movieguide® recently reported on Jackson Holliday’s faith after his MLB debut:
Although Holliday was unable to score a hit behind the plate, he drove in a run and turned a double play late in the game to secure his team’s win.
During a post-game interview, Holliday told the media, “Obviously, I would have liked to have gotten a few hits, but the overall experience was pretty incredible tonight.”
“I wouldn’t be here without Jesus, honestly,” he continued. “Just His love that He’s had on me and blessed me with the ability to play baseball and to be here today. I probably wouldn’t be anywhere without Him…Just giving thanks to the Lord.”
