Holliday call-up a win-now move
MLB’s top prospect is simply too good to keep in the minors
The start to the Orioles’ season showed their margin for error to repeat as American League East champions isn’t very wide.
The offense is struggling, and a few key members of the 2023 club are in slumps. The Orioles were nearly swept by the Kansas City Royals, and they lost in walk-off fashion on consecutive days to the
Pittsburgh Pirates — two teams that were projected to finish below .500. And the New York Yankees, the preseason favorites to win the division according to public projection systems, are off to a hot start.
The Orioles’ postseason hopes could come down to just one series or one game or one at-bat. There is no advantage too insignificant or edge too small when the stakes are this large and the margin this slim.
Jackson Holliday was simply too good to keep in the minors, too talented to let external factors get in the way, and too important to this team to keep him away from it. The Orioles promoted Holliday, baseball’s consensus No. 1 prospect, Tuesday night to make his MLB debut in Boston.
Holliday, the top pick in the 2022 draft, isn’t just a top prospect the way Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson were before him. The 20-year-old infielder might be one of the best prospects in modern baseball history. His ascendance and dominance throughout the minor leagues put him in a class with legendary players such as Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr. and Bryce Harper.
He went from Low-A to Triple-A as a 19-year-old in 2023 — his first full season of professional baseball. He gained 10 pounds of muscle this offseason to improve his power. And he did everything he could to make the team out of spring training, posting impressive numbers on the field and acting like a big leaguer away from it.
But the organization decided he needed more time in Triple-A, citing his lack of experience against quality left-handed pitching and his position change to
Twitter, hours before first pitch. FanDuel Sportsbook made an entire landing page for Holliday prop bets.
“It’s different,” Holliday said of his mentality now that he’s reached the majors. “It’s a lot and I feel like I’ve been born to handle that and to be here and play baseball for a long time.”
Holliday joined the Orioles less than 24 hours after wrapping up a game with Triple-A Norfolk. Manager Buck Britton called him into his office to break the news, kicking off a chaotic day of travel that included an evening of frantic packing, an overnight drive to Richmond and a 6 a.m. flight Wednesday morning. His dad had to call in a favor to get their family a ride on a private plane out of Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Nearly his entire family made it to the ballpark in time for the game. Matt and his brother Ethan watched him take batting prospect from behind the cage at home plate while Holliday’s wife, Chloe, his other siblings, his grandmother and “whoever else shows up” filtered in. Holliday got about three hours of sleep during the whole ordeal, and didn’t even lean on caffeine to keep him up. The excitement over the moment that had finally arrived was all he needed.
“It’s been quite a day,” Holliday said, “but I wouldn’t change it for a second.”
The 20-year-old, babyfaced infielder doesn’t have to bear the weight of the franchise’s future entirely on his shoulders, not when he’s joining a roster that already won 101 games and an American League East title without him last season. Manager Brandon Hyde hopes to get him comfortable by batting him low in the lineup — he’s in the No. 9 hole Wednesday — giving him a chance to play every day and lean
on teammates who understand what it’s like to have immense expectations.
“I think it’s helpful to have guys in your clubhouse that have had similar experiences, especially ones that are so close to age,” Hyde said. “He’s comfortable here with, especially with our club, just because he was with the team so much this spring and he’s already been friends with a lot of these guys.”
Holliday’s arrival was delayed, in part, because of his lack of experience against left-handed pitching. Baltimore faced a string of southpaws to begin the season, and sending him to Triple-A Norfolk allowed him to get off to a strong start he can now build on as he steps into an everyday job in the major leagues.
His success in Triple-A, where he hit .333 with two home runs and a 1.077 OPS in 10 games, only served to fuel the cries of the fan base, and the baseball community at large, to call him up. Any concerns over the Orioles keeping him down for service time manipulation was dashed with Baltimore bringing him up with three days to spare.
“He’s obviously proven that he can play at the highest of the minor league level,” Henderson said. “It was only a matter of time before he came up here and proved himself at the big league level so, yeah, I know he was looking forward to it for a while and I’m glad that he’s here.”
With the saga of when he would finally get the call behind him, Holliday has the chance to cement himself at the major league level. There will be no escaping the expectations, but it’s something he’s decided to face head-on.
“A little bit, not too bad,” Holliday said of whether he was nervous. “Not as nervous as I thought I would be. I’m more excited, kind of changed the mind frame from nervous to excitement but yeah, really excited.”