Inside a warehouse in Pelham, Alabama, Gunnar Henderson lunged from cone to cone, following the alternating lights that indicated which one to reach. He kept his body low to the ground, arms hovering just above his feet, and with each change of direction his legs shot him toward another lit-up cone.

It was almost dizzying, those sudden movements, but the drill was rooted in something bigger than a chest-heaving exercise. The bands that held Henderson back, the sleds that forced him to push harder, they all had a meaning — and they helped Henderson relearn how to run.

At Tinsley Performance this winter, Henderson set a goal with owner and trainer Cal Tinsley. He wanted to add speed.

That’s not because Henderson isn’t already fast. The Orioles shortstop’s average sprint speed of 28.5 feet per second ranks in the 79th percentile of Major League Baseball players, according to Statcast. But Henderson realized that since he was old enough to take his first jogging steps, he’d never been taught the right way to run.

“You get told how to run as you grow up by just saying, ‘Hey, run faster,’ right? ‘Move your feet quicker,’” Tinsley said.

In reality, that can create a counterproductive habit in some athletes. Think of Scooby-Doo. When that lovable cartoon dog attempts to run, he spins his wheels (er, paws) before he gets going.

Henderson is not Scooby-Doo (even though his impression of the dog is spot on). But when analyzing his movement mechanics in their first offseason working together, Tinsley quickly realized Henderson had a habit of rising to his full height too quickly when he began to sprint. He’s 6-foot-3. He’s a sturdy frame. But rising to that full height creates more vertical force than horizontal force during those first few steps, which counteracts Henderson’s desire to get from Point A to Point B in as little time as possible.

“The first 5 to 10 yards is more about power production and horizontal force, to be honest,” Tinsley said. “When that force becomes vertical, you take too many steps than you need to take and you don’t gain the ground you need to gain.”

Hence the cone drill, the bands draped around his body and the sled for him to push. All of those drills forced Henderson to get low, to make his shin as horizontal to the ground as possible. And in doing so, Henderson learned better mechanics to make his first three steps more valuable.

“The first two or three steps are going to be make-it or break-it in terms of whether he gets to the ball in the hole and all that,” Tinsley said. “So, we took that and ran with it, pun intended. We really worked on his 10-yard split from an athletic receiver stance and then also his baseball stance, and that’s something he really hasn’t done a ton of.”

When Henderson discussed how his offseason would look with Tinsley, speed training was a central pillar. Henderson’s size is an advantage in many ways. At the plate, Henderson’s build is advantageous for power, and that was evident in 2025, when he produced an average exit velocity of 92.1 mph (89th percentile).

But Henderson was also aware that his size could make the quick-twitch plays at shortstop or on the bases more difficult if he didn’t focus on mobility.

“Big thing for me is staying somewhat fast,” Henderson said. “Being a bigger guy, that’s what I feel like I need to work on, is just continuing to stay athletic side-to-side and then keeping the speed when I get going.”

Even without the specific training he endured this winter, Henderson proved himself to be a base-stealing threat last year. He swiped 30 bags for the first time in his career, and 10 of those came in September alone.

“I felt like once I just got comfortable out there and was able to learn on my own out there with the green light whenever I wanted it, I was able to figure out what I’m good at when I’m on the bases,” Henderson said. “I can steal a lot of bags in that way.”

When it comes to stealing bases, there is so much more at play than straight-line speed. One must read the pitcher to avoid a pick-off move. The slide at second base can help elude a strong throw and tag. And the jump is imperative — how quickly a player reacts to a pitcher throwing home, and how quickly the runner can reach top speed.

That brought Henderson to Tinsley, and together they measured Henderson’s 10-yard split.

“If you go first to second and you drop not even a tenth of a second — you’re talking about five-hundredths of a second — that’s a really, really big deal for these guys,” Tinsley said. “He’s a pretty explosive athlete. He’s already a fast guy. He already moves well. But if we can show him a few different positions to be in, and if he can get there — and he’s an elite athlete; he can — that’s what we worked on.”

Through the series of drills, Henderson learned to keep his body lower to the ground for a longer stretch. The horizontal power output drives him toward second base rather than wasting energy pushing vertically into the dirt. Added together, Henderson saw significant time drops.

“When we got to full effort, you’re looking at averages being a 1.53, 1.58 on his 10-yard split, and again, he was still working back into it, getting his legs back under him,” Tinsley said. “But now, we’re seeing times in the mid 1.40s, upper 1.40s. I think the average being below a 1.50 is obviously really elite.”

To put that into context for a 90-foot distance between first and second base, Tinsley said, shaving off 0.1 seconds per 10-yard segment would make Henderson’s time between the bases in the range of 3.2 seconds, “or even a sub-3.1,” Tinsley said. “If you get anywhere close to a 3-second first to second, you should be able to have the green light with anyone there behind the plate.”

Among the 30 professional baseball players who make Tinsley Performance their offseason home is Kansas City Royals utility man Tyler Tolbert. By pitting them against each other, Tinsley played into Henderson’s competitive spirit. Tolbert is one of the fastest players in the majors (with 21 steals in 64 games), and yet Henderson kept up with Tolbert or beat him on multiple reps.

It’s a positive development for Henderson’s mobility at shortstop and on the bases, and as Henderson prepares for a long season that begins with representing the U.S. in the World Baseball Classic, a split second here or there can lean bang-bang plays in Henderson’s favor.

“I think he’s right where he needs to be right now,” Tinsley said. “He didn’t necessarily start that way but he really spent some quality time together, myself and our staff, just making sure he understands the moves that need to happen whenever he’s in a base-stealing stance and just in an athletic position in general. And he’s a really high-level athlete, so it doesn’t take a long time for him to figure it out and start applying it into everything he’s doing.”