Dylan Beavers found his way into the American League Rookie of the Year conversation, even if only barely.
When the Baseball Writers’ Association of America released its first awards ballot last night, the Orioles outfielder picked up a fifth-place vote. Tigers shortstop Kevin McGonigle ran away with the award, collecting 28 of 30 first-place votes and 204 total points. Guardians pitcher Parker Messick took the other two first-place votes and finished second with 122 points.
The rest of the ballot shook out like this: Red Sox pitcher Payton Tolle (54), White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami (39), Royals catcher Carter Jensen (31), Guardians outfielder Chase DeLauter (23), Blue Jays infielder Kazuma Okamoto (17), White Sox outfielder Tristan Peters (12), White Sox outfielder Sam Antonacci (two), Guardians infielder Travis Bazzana (two), Angels pitcher Walbert Ureña (two), Beavers (one) and Athletics outfielder Henry Bolte (one).
Only five players can be placed on a ballot, and the writer behind this one said the final choices were McGonigle, Messick, Tolle, DeLauter and Okamoto. Murakami and Jensen were the tough calls, which says plenty about how crowded the 2026 field was.
For Baltimore, Beavers’ vote stood out because no Orioles were voted onto the Rookie of the Year ballot a year ago. He got there after hitting .228/.307/.373 with 20 doubles, nine homers, 44 RBIs and a minus-0.5 bWAR in 104 games. Catcher Samuel Basallo also put together a season that might have put him in the mix if the ballot had broken differently, batting .222/.291/.406 with 10 doubles, a triple, 18 homers, 54 RBIs and a 1.6 bWAR in 112 games.
The Orioles have had seven Rookie of the Year winners in franchise history, starting with Ron Hansen in 1960. Curt Blefary followed in 1965, then Al Bumbry in 1973, Eddie Murray in 1977, Cal Ripken Jr. in 1982 and Gregg Olson in 1989. After that long gap, Gunnar Henderson broke through in 2023.
Henderson was a unanimous winner after hitting .255/.325/.489 with 29 doubles, nine triples, 28 home runs, 82 RBIs and a 6.1 bWAR in 150 games. He added a Silver Slugger Award and finished eighth in MVP voting.
He took another step in 2024, making the All-Star Game and placing fourth in MVP balloting. That season he hit .281/.364/.529 with 31 doubles, seven triples, 37 homers, 92 RBIs, 21 stolen bases in 25 attempts and an 8.8 bWAR in 159 games.
This year told a different story. Henderson’s home run total fell to 17 and his RBI total dropped to 68 in 154 games in 2025, and he hit .225/.309/.403 with 59 RBIs in 158 games this year.
The source points to a shoulder impingement in ’25 and a sore wrist this year as possible factors, while also noting theories about too much chase, not enough confidence or issues barreling pitches. Whatever the cause, the question now is how he gets back.
That issue is hanging over the Orioles as the GM Meetings unfold in Las Vegas. Around the industry, there’s chatter about whether Henderson could even be available in a trade, something that would have sounded impossible not long ago. The idea has gained some traction after president of baseball operations Mike Elias dealt catcher Adley Rutschman to the Red Sox at the deadline.
Henderson is under team control through 2028, one year longer than Rutschman was. Baltimore also has reason to keep him: another run at the playoffs. The club isn’t saying whether extension talks have happened or where things stand with agent Scott Boras, who is expected to speak with the media on Wednesday.
Not everyone around the game sees Henderson as a player in decline. One executive said, “I have no doubt he’ll get back to it,” and added, “He ran into some hard luck and I think it started to get to him mentally.
He kept working at it to try to get it back, because that’s who he is. It didn’t quite play out the way he wanted to, but what you always forget with him is that he’s really young.
Some of the things he hasn’t experienced, and this will make him a better player.
“I thought defensively he had a really good year, and that’s gonna keep getting better and better. So I think he’ll return to form. I fully expect him to be the All-Star shortstop that he has shown in the past.”
That’s the kind of belief the Orioles can lean on as they decide what comes next. The source suggests a simple path: keep Henderson, make another postseason push, see what new general manager Jared Banner can do with his player-development background, and revisit the bigger questions if 2027 goes as badly as the last two seasons.
Elsewhere, the BBWAA will announce Manager of the Year tonight, and the Orioles’ history in that award has its own messy chapter. Frank Robinson won it in 1989, Davey Johnson in 1997, Buck Showalter in 2014 and Brandon Hyde in 2023. Robinson was fired in May 1991, Johnson resigned via fax on the same day he won the award, Showalter was dismissed after the 2018 season and Hyde was let go in May 2025.
Johnson later said, “I wrestled with the decision for two weeks,” and added, “I was thinking it would be resolved and worked out, and I’d get the support I needed to win a championship in Baltimore. It wasn’t forthcoming. I was giving him the opportunity to make a change and he took it.”
Angelos told WBAL Radio he was going to fire Johnson if the manager didn’t resign first, which is why the whole thing still gets described as a soap opera.
And in Scottsdale, the Arizona Fall League’s Future Stars Game included four Orioles minor leaguers on Sunday night. Ike Irish played right field and had an RBI single and a walk in the American League’s 7-4 loss. Vance Honeycutt started in center field and went 0-for-2 with a walk and two strikeouts.
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For Baltimore, the appeal is obvious: turn an area of depth into a chance to address a separate need, especially on the pitching side. Elias has worked with Miami before, and that history only adds to the sense that this is a path worth watching as the trade market develops. Names like Sandy Alcantara or Eury Perez fit the kind of upside the Orioles might chase, even if nothing has moved beyond the speculative stage so far. [Read more 🡒]