The Orioles once again had a promising start to the week before floundering in a three game losing streak and managing to tread water with a sweep-avoiding Sunday win. The mediocre week dropped them further behind the first place Yankees and did nothing to provide any solace for a fanbase worried another season is starting to slip away.
The Birds headed to Miami for a three-game set with the Marlins, desperate to reset after getting outscored 39-10 in a four-game sweep by the Yankees. Baltimore took two of three to win the series, but the finale delivered another gut punch.
Tuesday’s opener was a wild 9-7 win that snapped a five-game losing streak. Chris Bassitt continued to struggle, allowing four runs on six hits with three walks in just four innings, bumping his ERA to 5.91. But the offense bailed him out in a big way. Pete Alonso ripped a two-run double in the first, and Samuel Basallo followed with an RBI double to make it 3-0. Basallo was sensational all night, finishing a home run shy of the cycle with four RBI, including an RBI triple in the fifth that pushed the lead to 7-4. The Marlins clawed back with back-to-back homers in the seventh, then tied it in the eighth. In the ninth, Adley Rutschman came off the bench to pinch hit against lefty Andrew Nardi and delivered a go-ahead single to left. Leody Taveras tacked on an insurance RBI single, and Rico García closed it out to earn the win.
Wednesday was more straightforward. Brandon Young gave up three runs in the first but settled down to deliver six solid innings (3 R, 4 H, 3 BB, 5 K), improving to 3-1. Alonso set the tone immediately with a 407-foot, three-run homer off Eury Pérez to erase the early deficit. Rutschman stayed hot with a pair of RBI doubles as the O’s pulled away for a 7-4 win. García worked a scoreless ninth for his second save, lowering his ERA to a sparkling 0.53 across 18 appearances.
Thursday’s finale was supposed to complete the sweep. Instead, it was another momentum-killing, deflating loss. Cade Povich walked former Oriole Connor Norby on four pitches to open the first, then Hicks launched a two-run homer to put Miami up early. Povich exited after just three innings and 43 pitches with left forearm discomfort (always an ominous sign) and headed to the IL. The bullpen was excellent in relief, with Yennier Cano, Dietrich Enns, and Keegan Akin combining to keep the O’s in the game. Alonso tied it at 3-3 with an RBI single in the eighth, but Coby Mayo sealed the loss by bobbling a Javier Sanoja grounder in the ninth and throwing wild to first, allowing Joe Mack to score the walk-off run in a 4-3 loss.
The Athletics came to Camden Yards for the weekend series riding a wave of confidence, sitting atop the AL West at 21-18. In the Friday opener, Kyle Bradish delivered far and away his best start of the season, firing seven innings of three-run ball with 10 strikeouts and just one walk on 96 pitches. Unfortunately the offense gave him little to work with and the defense and managerial decisions let him down.
The O’s managed just four hits on the night, two of them solo homers from Adley Rutschman and Pete Alonso. The A’s rallied for three runs in the fifth, sparked by weak grounder that scored the first run when the Orioles aggressively shifted for a bunt that never happened. Trey Gibson surrendered an insurance run in the eighth, and A’s closer Hogan Harris escaped a ninth-inning jam by retiring Gunnar to strand the tying run. Samuel Basallo drove in a run in the ninth to make it interesting, but it was too little too late in a 4-3 loss.
Saturday was worse. Shane Baz continued his slide, lasting just 4.2 innings while allowing five runs on five hits with three walks. Aaron Civale held the O’s scoreless through five innings despite allowing six hits, escaping a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam in the fifth when Rutschman struck out and Alonso and Basallo both hit shallow fly balls. It was the kind of inning that perfectly encapsulated the O’s offensive struggles this season, all the traffic, none of the damage. Colton Cowser broke up the shutout with a pinch-hit, two-RBI single in the eighth, but the 6-2 final dropped the O’s to 17-23 and six games under .500 for the first time this year. Hopefully Nelly was better than the O’s.
The Birds got a desperately needed win to avoid a sweep in the Sunday finale. Chris Bassitt turned in a strong outing after Keegan Akin pitched one inning as the “opener”. Bassitt held the Athletics to one run on four hits over six innings, striking out six with just one walk on 94 efficient pitches. Dylan Beavers doubled and scored in the third, with Henderson singling him home for the tying run. Beavers then singled home Basallo, who had doubled, in the sixth for the go-ahead run. The bullpen was airtight from there. Anthony Nuñez worked around two walks in the seventh, Keegan Akin punched out two in the eighth, and Rico García earned his third save with a scoreless ninth to seal the 2-1 win and avoid the sweep.
A few players made strong cases for Player of the Week. Adley Rutschman was excellent across the six games, slashing .333/.417/.619 with three doubles, a homer, and four RBI. The pinch-hit go-ahead single against the Marlins on Tuesday was exactly the kind of clutch hit the O’s have been missing.
Kyle Bradish also deserves recognition, even though his line includes a tough-luck loss. His seven-inning, 10-strikeout gem against the Athletics on Friday was the best start by any Orioles pitcher not named Trevor Rogers this season. He walked just one batter and was in complete control for the first time all year, locating his fastball and putting hitters away with consistency. The team desperately needs Bradish to build on this.
Dylan Beavers quietly put together a strong week at the plate as well, batting .350/.458/.550 with four doubles and four walks across 24 plate appearances and his Sunday performance was the clutch highlight of the week.
But the award goes to Samuel Basallo, who was the best hitter on the team this week. Basallo slashed .360/.385/.560 with nine hits, three doubles, a triple, and five RBI across six games. His Tuesday night in Miami was a show, going 3-for-3 with a double, a triple, and a two-run single, finishing a homer shy of the cycle with four RBI in what may have been the best game of his young career. He also doubled in Thursday’s loss and again on Sunday, showing a willingness to drive the ball to all fields that the Orioles desperately need from their middle-of-the-order hitters. At 21 years old, Basallo is starting to look like the player the organization bet $67 million on last summer. In a week where much of the lineup went cold, Basallo was the one constant.
Down on the Farm
Norfolk went 2-4 on the week, but Creed Willems continued his torrid start to the AAA season, slashing .353/.450/.882 with three home runs and six RBI in 20 plate appearances, bringing his season OPS to .866. The catching prospect now has five homers and 13 RBI through his first taste of Triple-A and has looked comfortable at every level the organization has placed him.
On the mound, Nestor German was utterly dominant in 11 innings of work, striking out 16 against just one walk while allowing one earned run on seven hits. German continues to look like one of the more intriguing arms in the upper minors. Levi Wells also turned in a solid 4.2 innings with four strikeouts and one earned run. It was not all positive, however. Trace Bright was roughed up for seven earned runs on nine hits in four innings, and Cameron Foster allowed five earned runs in 2.2 frames.
AA Chesapeake was the more interesting story this week, thanks to a pair of high-profile rehab assignments arriving at Prince George’s Stadium. Jackson Holliday resumed his third rehab stint of the season on Thursday, going 0-for-6 with four walks in his first two games with the Baysox. This is Holliday’s third attempt at a rehab assignment since his February hamate bone surgery, with the first two cut short by recurring hand discomfort. The bigger news is positional. Albernaz confirmed Holliday will get reps at third base during this assignment, his first look at the hot corner since a couple of games in the low minors in 2023. With Jordan Westburg’s likely done for the year and Coby Mayo looking baffled by Major League pitching, the Orioles clearly need options at the position. Holliday is expected to rejoin Norfolk on Tuesday to continue the assignment. A return to the big league roster by mid-to-late May remains the target if the hand cooperates.
Heston Kjerstad also began a rehab assignment at Chesapeake on Saturday after missing the entire season with a Grade 1 right hamstring strain suffered in a late-spring exhibition game. He went 1-for-6 in his first two games. The likely path for Kjerstad once he’s activated is an option to Norfolk for additional at-bats before a big league roster spot opens up.
Among the everyday Chesapeake players, Ethan Anderson was the standout, slashing .368/.455/.842 with three homers, five RBI and two stolen bases. Anderson has an .863 OPS on the year, another promising catching prospect in the organization. Frederick Bencosme had a well-rounded week at .316/.409/.632 with three doubles and a homer. Tavian Josenberger swiped four bases while hitting .278 with a homer and four RBI. Anderson De Los Santos drove in six runs despite a low average, and Griff O’Ferrall doubled four times while batting .222/.318/.444.
On the Chesapeake pitching side, Sebastian Gongora was excellent in six innings (5 H, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 ER), and Yaqui Rivera punched out nine in 5.1 innings of two-run ball. Evan Yates was the most dominant arm on the staff, allowing just one hit and one walk across 5.1 innings with five strikeouts and a 0.38 WHIP on the week.
Question of the Week
What is wrong with Gunnar Henderson?
It seems like this is a theme every week. With the nature of this team, there isn’t much positive to write about. Let’s see if there are any silver linings in Gunnar’s disappointing start to 2026.
Through 38 games, Gunnar Henderson was slashing .201/.260/.421 with a .674 OPS and 54 strikeouts. That strikeout rate of 31.2% would be a career high by a wide margin if it holds, and his two-strike performance has been genuinely alarming, with a .074 batting average and .278 OPS in those counts, ranking 329th out of 343 qualified hitters. This is the same player who posted a .281/.364/.529 line with 37 home runs and a 6.7 fWAR in 2024, looking like a future MVP. Even his down year in 2025, when the power dipped to just 17 homers but with a .787 OPS, looks luxurious compared to what we’re watching now.
So what happened?
The encouraging place to start is that Gunnar has not lost the ability to hit the ball hard. His nine home runs through 38 games put him on pace for roughly 38 on the season. His ISO (Isolated Power, calculated as SLG minus AVG) of around .220 is actually closer to his 2024 level (.248) than the anemic .165 he posted last year. Baseball Savant has his barrel rate at 10.4% and his average exit velocity at 89.7 mph, both in the neighborhood of league average, but a decent step down from the 92.1 mph he posted in his MVP-caliber 2024 season, which ranked in the 91st percentile. However, in general when has connected, he’s still doing damage.
The problem is how often he is not connecting, and why. Multiple deep dives this week, particularly strong pieces from Pitcher List and Orioles Hangout, have converged on the same diagnosis, Henderson’s struggles are more self-inflicted than physical. He has revamped his swing to be more uphill and more pull-oriented, and the results have been mixed at best. He is swinging more often, chasing more pitches outside the zone, and making contact farther out front, all of which has produced more pull-side air contact but far less squared-up damage against anything that isn’t a fastball.
Pitchers have noticed. According to Orioles Hangout’s analysis, pitchers have cut Henderson’s fastball diet by almost 10 percentage points compared to 2024, feeding him a steady stream of offspeed and breaking pitches. Henderson can still punish fastballs, his slugging against heaters is above .530, but his production against offspeed has cratered. His meatball swing rate, the rate at which he swings at the pitches he should absolutely be swinging at, has dropped from 77.8% in 2024 to 70.7% in 2026. So he’s swinging more overall but swinging less at the pitches that are there to be hit.
The two-strike counts tell the story most vividly. Henderson is reaching two-strike counts at the highest rate of his career and then getting put away at a 24.8% clip, which sits in the 13th percentile.
There is a real statistical case for optimism beyond just “he’s too talented for this.” Gunnar’s BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play) sits at .242, a full 64 points below his expected BABIP. His xwOBA (Expected Weighted On-Base Average) of .288 is well below his actual wOBA (Weighted On-Base Average) of .298, suggesting he is due for at least some positive regression.
Some of this is tied to his pull-heavy, high-flyball approach depressing his BABIP, and some of it is just bad luck on balls in play. A 64-point gap between expected and actual BABIP suggests meaningful regression to the mean is coming. His batting average should climb closer to his career .270 line as the season wears on.
But here is the concern. If this were purely a luck problem, you could just shrug and wait. It is not purely a luck problem. Gunnar (and/or the team) has made a deliberate swing change that has introduced real vulnerabilities, and the league has already adjusted. This decision seems like a massive over-correction for his drop in homers last season.
He went from a hitter who could damage anything in 2024, especially breaking balls, to a hitter who is vulnerable to anything with movement away from his bat path. The largest concern is that the 2024 MVP–level campaign is beginning to look more like the outlier than his true level. Player progression is not always linear and the harsh reality could be that we’ve already seen Gunnar’s peak.
Now a better than average bat, with good power, solid defense and outstanding baserunning at shortstop is still someone you can build around. It just isn’t quite the franchise-altering superstar the 2024 season promised.
So should Gunnar change his approach or just wait? The answer is probably a bit of both. The luck will correct itself, and his batting average will rise. But he also needs to re-establish his ability to lay off offspeed pitches down and away, get back to using the whole field, and stop letting pitchers dictate the terms of the at-bat. He told reporters on Friday that he felt something click in Thursday’s game against the Marlins, and he battled through a 10-pitch walk in Friday’s opener against the Athletics that felt like a statement at-bat. Maybe the corner is being turned.
For the Orioles’ long-term outlook, Gunnar remains the most important position player in the organization. He is under team control through 2029, arbitration-eligible after this season, and an extension in the range of $250-350 million is still a possibility. Even a “disappointing” Gunnar is a player most teams would build their franchise around.
The question is whether this version, higher strikeouts, less contact, more pull-happy, represents a permanent shift in his profile or a correctable rough patch. The track record, the underlying quality of contact, and the sheer amount of BABIP regression he’s owed all point toward better days ahead. But this is no longer just a slump to be waited out. There are real approach and swing-decision issues that need to be addressed, and the sooner he and the coaching staff confront that, the sooner we get the hitter we know he can be.