The bright blue jersey stood out in Gunnar Henderson’s locker in the Orioles clubhouse, and written on it was a personalized message from Kyle Stowers: You’re still Paxton’s favorite.

The message stems from 2024 spring training, when Stowers and Henderson and a slew of others lived in a Florida home they nicknamed the Leaky Cauldron, after the Harry Potter haunt that leads to Diagon Alley. Staying in that house with Stowers and Henderson were Adley Rutschman, Colton Cowser, Ryan Mountcastle and some of their significant others.

And one golden retriever, named Paxton.

“Paxton’s favorite, apart from me, was definitely Gunnar,” Stowers said, laughing at the memory in the visiting dugout at Camden Yards on Friday. “Gunnar played with him in a similar way that I did, roughhouse with him, and when Paxton was around Gunnar, it was like a ‘Yes, sir.’”

The days of being teammates are over, but a dog’s love doesn’t leave.

Stowers and Connor Norby were traded from the Orioles a year ago in exchange for left-hander Trevor Rogers. This is their first return to Camden Yards since then, and they waved to longtime friends, chatted on the field and digested what they admitted was a weird experience.

Stowers, an All-Star outfielder, and Norby didn’t know how to navigate the bowels of Camden Yards. They never had to walk so far down the tunnel, past the home clubhouse toward the visiting clubhouse on the third-base side. They each sat in the opposite dugout from their friends, and they remembered the days when they all hoped to reach the big leagues together.

They have, in a way. Here they are. Stowers and Norby are on the Marlins, and Cowser, Coby Mayo, Jackson Holliday and Cade Povich and more and more are Orioles. They did it — even if a trade wasn’t part of that plan.

“You can never expect to get traded, but thankfully Stow was there with me and we went through it together, and we kind of leaned on each other,” Norby said. “And that’s all we’ve done since: lean on each other.”

On the field before Friday’s series opener between the Marlins and Orioles, Stowers and Norby caught up with former teammates and coaches. One was John Mabry, a senior adviser for the Orioles who served as Miami’s hitting coach last year.

Stowers said he spent “a lot of time together last year” with Mabry in the batting cage, trying to find success in a new environment. “Like, a lot of time together, lot of swings, a lot of talks.”

After Mabry joined the Orioles’ coaching staff in late May, he grew close to Mayo, who is working with Mabry on first-base defense. Almost every day as the first half of the season came to a close, Mabry and Mayo talked about Stowers.

“Stowey hit another homer. Stowey hit another homer,” Mayo recalled them saying. “He might be an All-Star!

“And what do you know?” Mayo continued. “He’s their All-Star, and he deserves it.”

Stowers has posted worthy numbers: a .279 average with an .859 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. He credited the everyday playing time he has received in Miami as a major reason for his breakout. Norby, an infielder, is hitting .240 with a .653 OPS.

To Norby, Stowers’ rise to prominence didn’t come as a surprise. Stowers was chosen in the second round of the 2019 MLB draft. When Norby arrived in the organization as a second-round pick in 2021, he immediately took note of Stowers’ abilities.

“When I saw Kyle Stowers, I thought he was the best player in the org, and that was at a time with Gunnar and Adley, and that’s not even discrediting them, because they’re unbelievable,” Norby said. “But I thought Kyle Stowers was our best pure hitter in the organization at that time when I got drafted.”

Mayo, Norby and others attended Povich’s wedding last winter. It was Povich’s first chance to see Norby after the trade, and it “was really cool to have everyone back together.” The last time Mayo saw Stowers before Friday was the day he was traded to Miami.

Stowers and Norby described the shock in the moment.

“When you first get traded — and same thing when I got optioned back and forth — how you use the word ‘we’ in regards to a team is always interesting,” Stowers said. “It was tough when I left to not at first say, ‘This is how we used to do it with the Orioles.’”

Added Norby: “It didn’t make sense to me, and you’re kind of in denial. But once you get past those initial phases you start to see the opportunity that’s in front of you.”

The opportunity: frequent playing time.

Norby and Stowers were in the lineup for Friday’s game, as they have been for most of the season.

“Those are two guys who you didn’t know if they were going to get a shot here, a real shot, to show how good they were,” Mayo said. “Throughout the minor leagues, you could tell how talented they were and such good people.”

Gone are the Leaky Cauldron days, but especially for Paxton, the dog’s favorite will always be one of his dad’s former teammates.