The Baltimore Orioles have seen Gunnar Henderson go from budding superstar to one of the faces of the game in a hurry. But in 2025, their shortstop is living out his own version of Trouble with the Curve, and no, this one doesn’t star Clint Eastwood.
Henderson’s bugaboo this year? Breaking pitches. And it hasn’t been subtle.
Against sliders, he’s striking out 24.6 percent. Against curveballs? A jaw-dropping 42.6 percent. That’s right, if you spin one up there, nearly half the time Henderson is walking back to the dugout.
Gunnar Henderson’s sudden collapse against curveballs is fueling Orioles’ offensive woes
When pitchers challenge Henderson with anything straight, it’s a completely different story. Fastballs? He’s hitting .338 as of August 22. Even against sliders (.241) and changeups (.281), he’s holding his own. But against the curveball, his batting average has cratered to .114, with only one lone home run to show for it.
It’s a wild departure from last year, when Henderson was actually thriving on breaking stuff. In 2024, he hit .313 against curveballs while only posting .242 against fastballs. Even more telling, he crushed 19 homers off breaking balls a season ago. This year, he’s got just five.
Pitchers have clearly noticed. Opponents are feeding him breaking balls at a higher clip, up to 28.4 percent of his total pitches seen compared to 25.9 last season. They’ve figured out that the quickest way to neutralize one of baseball’s brightest young stars is to make him chase the spin.
For the Orioles, it’s become a fascinating subplot in a season that’s taken a shocking turn toward mediocrity. Henderson remains dangerous. Few hitters punish mistakes like he does, and he’s more than capable of adjusting. But until he proves he can consistently handle the breaking ball again, pitchers are going to keep hammering away at that weakness.
Baltimore fans don’t want to see their MVP candidate become a real-life sequel to Trouble with the Curve. The Orioles need him to flip the script, rediscover that knack for crushing breaking stuff, and bring back the version of Henderson who made pitchers pay for trying to get cute.
Should he make the adjustment, the Orioles’ lineup won’t just be good; it’ll be scary again in no time.
