One of baseball's best rosters is Baltimore's. Baltimore has a lot of young talent, but 23-year-old All-Star Gunnar Henderson is the best.
Henderson is an MVP candidate. A rookie, he finished eighth in the American League MVP voting in 2023 and fourth in 2024. In 159 games for the Orioles in 2024, Henderson hit 37 home runs, 92 RBIs, 21 stolen bases, and slashed.281/.364/.529.
He won't be a free agent until 2029, but Juan Soto's $765 million deal makes you wonder how much Henderson will get.
Chris Landers, Robert Murray, Terrence Jordan, and Zachary Rotman of FanSided analyzed the league to find Soto's successor. Rotman suggested Henderson.
"I’m going to go with Gunnar Henderson solely because he’s set to hit free agency one year before Elly De La Cruz," said Rotman. We can argue about who's better all day, but not about their free agency pay.
Both players are represented by Scott Boras, who pushes his clients toward free agency. Their teams would like to extend them sooner rather than later.
"Juan Soto rejected a $440 million extension offer years ago to bet on himself. His free agent deal couldn't have gone better. Henderson may not bat like Soto, but he just had a 9.1 bWAR season (Soto's career high is 7.9). At 27, he'll be one year older than Soto when he hits free agency."
Henderson is a star, so will be interesting to watch over the next few years.