Orioles' Gunnar Henderson gets 'lingering' injury update ahead of Opening Day
03/23/2025 01:22 PM
As the calendar starts to approach April, Opening Day in the MLB is on the horizon. As is the case before every season, teams around the league have plenty of hope that this could be their year to make a run toward the playoffs and compete for a championship.
The Baltimore Orioles come into this season with high expectations in what should be a very competitive AL East, but they received some bad news as Opening Day approaches. Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson will start the regular season on the injured list due to a lingering abdominal injury, according to ESPN.
“Henderson, 23, has been out since sustaining a strained intercostal muscle Feb. 27 that knocked him out of Grapefruit League games,” ESPN wrote. “He had returned to some baseball activities a week and a half ago but will no longer make his goal of being ready for Opening Day.
“The Orioles have planned to be cautious in their approach based on Henderson’s history with abdominal muscle strains. He fought through left oblique discomfort the first three weeks of spring training last year.”
Losing Henderson for any amount of time is certainly a big blow for this Orioles team, even though it doesn’t seem like the injury is that serious. He finished fourth in the AL MVP race last season after a stellar 2024 that saw him finish with 37 home runs and 92 RBIs while batting .281.
Henderson is part of an intriguing young core for the Orioles that Baltimore is hoping can compete with the likes of the New York Yankees for the AL East title this season. Baltimore got bounced from the AL Wild Card Series last season in a 2-0 sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals at Camden Yards, so the Orioles will be eager to get that sour taste out of their mouths.
Getting Henderson back sooner rather than later is certainly a key part of making that run, but that looks like it will happen sooner rather than later, When the rising star gets back on the field, look out for this Baltimore squad.
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