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There are few more exciting days for a baseball fan during the regular season than when one of the most hyped-up prospects in the game finally receives a call-up to the major leagues. On Wednesday, that’s exactly what happened when the Baltimore Orioles brought up consensus number one prospect, middle infielder Jackson Holliday, to the big leagues in a 7-5 win against division rival Boston Red Sox.
Holliday, the number one overall pick of the 2022 MLB Draft, did nothing but wow talent evaluators at every stop, leading to his fast rise to the MLB. Only 20 years old, the sky is the limit for Holliday, who, just to show how stacked the Orioles are, batted ninth in his MLB debut.
Overall, Jackson Holliday looked like a natural, a player worthy of a big-league spot. But the Orioles shortstop, who played as a second baseman in his debut and will continue to do so due to the presence of star man Gunnar Henderson, would have at least wanted to get a hit. Nonetheless, he just took the experience in and absorbed how amazing it was for him to finally start his big-league career, and with an RBI no less.
“I’d like to have gotten a few hits, but the overall experience was pretty incredible. To go out there and win and have an RBI, I mean, it’s pretty awesome. I can’t ask for more, except for maybe, like, four hits, ” Holliday told reporters following the Orioles’ win, per Jake Mintz of Yahoo! Sports.
There’s always pressure for a top prospect to succeed right off the bat. But Jackson Holliday knows how big of a win it is for him to have already made his MLB debut at the young age of 20, and the Orioles, at the very least, are bringing him along slowly as evidenced by their placement of him at ninth in the batting order.
Jackson Holliday will be a star before long
Jackson Holliday has excelled in all minor-league levels; in 2023, he played in four levels, rising all the way to Triple-A from Low-A all the while being an above-average hitter or better at all stops. In 2024, he began the season in the minors, but it didn’t take long for the Orioles to call him up after seeing him crush the opposition to the tune of a 1.077 OPS in 56 plate appearances.
Sure, Holliday didn’t have the best of debuts. He went 0-4, striking out and grounding out twice each, although one groundout of his at least resulted in an RBI. Nevertheless, the Orioles’ top prospect doesn’t just have the physical tools and ability to become a star, he also has an even-keeled demeanor that allows him to move forward to the next at-bat without feeling much of an effect from the poor at-bats he has had previously.
Orioles: the rich get richer
It’s difficult to fathom that the Orioles would field this exciting of a product on the field with the way they struggled from 2018 to 2021. Those might have netted them some precious high draft picks, but it’s not easy to hit on nearly every single one of those selections. Adley Rutschman has become a bonafide star, selecting Gunnar Henderson at 42 back in 2019 was a grand larceny, and now, Jackson Holliday only makes the rich get richer.
The Orioles’ other draft picks during that span are starting work out quite nicely as well. Colton Cowser is coming into his own, Jordan Westburg hit the three-run shot that buoyed Baltimore to victory on Wednesday, and Grayson Rodriguez is developing into a solid middle of the rotation arm.
The Orioles are scary enough already, as they have quite the pipeline of young talent, both in the majors and minors. Jackson Holliday only serves to make them an even more terrifying team to face for at least the rest of the decade.
More must-reads:
- Rockies expected to promote top outfield prospect
- Surging Twins get starting shortstop back from injury
- The 'Active MLB strikeout leaders' quiz
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