‘First-round picks all over the place’
No. 1 selection savors his first spring training
SARASOTA, Fla. — This is nothing new for Jackson Holliday.
In a move executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias called “probably unusual,” the Baltimore 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, 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 firstround 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 firstrounder 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 action last summer.
Elias said it’s uncommon for a high school player to be invited to big-league camp the year after he’s drafted, and Holliday said he wouldn’t have been surprised if he hadn’t been. But the organization believed it would benefit him.
“We thought he can handle it,” Elias said last week. “We thought he was ready for it. He had a really good debut and did well in A-ball and seems to be a very mature kid, so we thought it would be a good experience for him, even though that’s not the norm like it is for a college player. I’m happy that he’s here.”
Manager Brandon Hyde feels the same way. He was among the staff at a pre-spring training development camp featuring Holliday, Cowser, third baseman Coby Mayo, second baseman Connor Norby and outfielder Heston Kjerstad, all of whom appeared on at least one publication’s top 100 prospects list this offseason. Hyde came away excited about the group at large, but he heaped praise on Holliday.
“I’ve been so impressed watching him,” Hyde said. “Doesn’t look like a kid that just was in high school a year ago. It’s special ability, and he’s really talented. I’m trying to get him into some games early, give him a little bit of experience. But we’re really enjoying having him, and I just want him to soak in his first big league camp.”
Holliday said he’s been doing exactly that, enjoying his time with the more experienced players and competing with them in not only drills, but also ping pong, mini golf and bowling. He’s trying to follow the advice his dad gave him before he headed to camp: “Have fun with it and work hard and get to know these guys because you’re around them for quite a long time.”
“It’s been a blessing to be raised in baseball,” Holliday said. “Kind of knowing what to expect coming into your first spring training has been very helpful.
“It’s been pretty awesome every single day.”