‘1st-round picks all over the place’
No. 1 pick Jackson Holliday savoring his first spring training with the Orioles
SARASOTA, Fla. — This is nothing new for Jackson Holliday.
In a move executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias called “probably unusual,” the Orioles invited Holliday to major league spring training, months removed from selecting the shortstop with the first overall pick of the 2022 draft out of Stillwater High School in Oklahoma. The son of seven-time All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday, Jackson Holliday said he went to every spring training alongside his father before his retirement after the 2018 season.
The experience means the 19-year-old has yet to have any “wow” moments in the first spring training of his own professional career, but he’s enjoying getting to spend time with the rest of the organization’s top prospects.
“The cool part about this organization so far has just been all the young guys and being able to be around them,” Holliday said. “If you look around, there’s first-round picks all over the place.”
All of the Orioles’ top 10 prospects, according to Baseball America’s rankings, are in big league spring training, and that group doesn’t include catcher Adley Rutschman, the 2019 first-overall pick who graduated from prospect status last season. Holliday said he, Rutschman, top overall prospect Gunnar Henderson and 2021 first-rounder Colton Cowser have been hanging out regularly since reporting to Florida.
Holliday is positioned to potentially follow Rutschman and Henderson as baseball’s No. 1 prospect. He’s already ranked among the game’s top 20 prospects by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, MLB Pipeline and ESPN after hitting .297/.489/.422 with twice as many walks as strikeouts in 20 games between the Florida Complex League and Low-A Delmarva in his first professional
the night as the Terps frustrated one of the nation’s leading scorers with various zone looks.
Clark entered averaging 27.3 points and 8.3 assists per game, but she finished with just 18 points, her second-lowest total of the season.
The Terps lost five of their top six scorers from last year’s team to graduation and transfer and started this year with a rotation half composed of newbies.
But that returnee, Diamond Miller, is now a top WNBA prospect and a couple of other returnees have combined with four transfers to keep the Terps, perennially a strong team, as one of the nation’s best.
They’ve solidified a spot as an NCAA Tournament host and are on pace to be selected as a No. 2 seed.
Tuesday’s game, the Terps’ final one this season in College Park, began at a fast and furious pace with the teams exchanging quick possessions and 3-point tries. But in the second quarter Iowa — which leads the nation in scoring and the conference in 3-point makes — couldn’t keep pace with Maryland’s barrage from deep.
In the first half, four Terps hit multiple 3-pointers.
During the pivotal second quarter the Terps were without their best player, Miller, who had two fouls while Iowa still had its best player, Clark, for the entire period. It didn’t hurt Maryland, though, as it kept Clark in check and swiftly moved the ball around on offense to outscore Iowa 27-8 in the quarter.
The Terps finished with four players scoring in double digits. In addition to Alexander’s 24, Briggs had 19 points, Miller had 16 and Shyanne Sellers had 17.
The Terps will travel to No. 16 Ohio State on Friday for their final regular-season game.
They begin the Big Ten Tournament in Minneapolis next week.