O's Magic: Happy Hollidays!
No. 1 Prospect Holliday has been called up, and is more than ready for success.
Welcome back to another edition of ‘O’s Magic’, a Cool Sports Newsletter series made by a die hard Orioles fan! The Baltimore Orioles have many questions surrounding their team just ten games in, and this should sure fix them. MLB’s No. 1 prospect Jackson Holliday has been called up to the majors, a move we were all waiting for but has finally been made. Let’s break down how Holliday became the best prospect in the game, and what we should expect from him right away as an Oriole!
Holliday was drafted first overall by the Orioles in the 2022 draft. And that was because he had a stellar, and I mean stellar, high school career. In 2022 he was National High School Player of the Year with .685/.749/1.392 splits, an all time record 89 hits and 17 home runs in 41 games. An obvious selection at first overall, the five tool prospect immediately showed potential of superstardom, working his way up the minor league levels in not even a season and a half.
He worked his way to Delmarva (A) after just 8 games in Rookie. Then in 2023, he just kept soaring. He spent a lot of his time in Aberdeen (A+), before a 36 game stint in double-A Bowie and then finally went to AAA Norfolk where he played 18 games. While raising four minor league levels, Holliday managed to bat .323 with 101 walks, 24 stolen bases, 12 home runs and 75 RBI’s. By June, he was the clear, best prospect in the sport. And that set up the question of: when will he find his way on the major league roster?
After an amazing spring training, most thought it was certain Holliday would join the roster. Instead, Baltimore waited it out. Maybe to see what Ramon Urias could still do in a starting role. Maybe because they thought Holliday needed a little more time. Here nor there, the Orioles weren’t going to leave a player of his caliber in the minors for long. In 10 AAA games this season, Holliday batted .333/.482/.595 with a 1.077 OPS, not to mention going 4-6 with five runs in the Tide’s record-setting 26 run scoring night last week. He was clearly making a case to be called up, and sure enough he was.
I think we all know Holliday’s potential. The ‘five-tool-prospect’ kind of speaks for itself. Those five tools for those who don’t know are Speed, Throwing, Fielding, Hitting for Average and Hitting for Power. He is a very ‘Gunnar-Henderson-type-player’. Holliday should turn into a star like Henderson and like Adley Rutschman. What he can do immediately though is a different question.
You know how good Gunnar Henderson is now? Well, in his first 33 appearances last season, the Rookie of the Year batted .170 with 7 RBI’s. I’m not saying Holliday will get off to that kind of start, but there is no guarantee he will come in and immediately make an impact. While I do think the son of 7x All Star Matt Holliday has more skills and is more MLB-ready than Henderson was when he joined the roster, don’t be disappointed if Holliday starts off slow.
However, I could not be more excited! This move, doesn’t cap off the rebuilding stage, but sort-of does. Holliday was the last, high-value draft pick Baltimore had from all of those bad seasons. And now that he’s joining the roster, we are soon going to see what should be the core of the Orioles for the next decade; Henderson, Holliday, Rutschman, Grayson Rodriguez and Kyle Bradish. Obviously things could change, but whether he’s making an impact right off the get-go is not why I’m excited. I’m excited because this is the final stage of the rebuild, and now Baltimore will be fully-ready to win a World Series with a core that will make our summers a ton of fun for the foreseeable future.
Nonetheless, I am really happy. Holliday bats 9th tonight against Boston in his debut with the team. I expect No. 7—the number of former manager Cal Ripken Sr—to shine, and to show the world why he is the best prospect in the league. Birdland, welcome to the Holliday Season!
Chase Coburn
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The future looks very promising for the orioles