Tides awarded 3 of Orioles’ top awards
Holliday, McDermott, Britton are honored by the organization
NORFOLK — The accolades continue to roll in for the Norfolk Tides.
The International League and Triple-A champions received three of the top individual minor league honors given by the parent Baltimore Orioles.
Jackson Holliday, the top prospect in baseball and the Tides’ 19-year-old shortstop, was named the organization’s top minor league player Saturday.
Right-hander Chayce McDermott was named the Orioles’ top minor league pitcher, and Norfolk manager Buck Britton was named the winner of the Cal Ripken Sr. Player Development Award.
Britton, whose team beat the Oklahoma City Dodgers 7-6 in the Triple-A National Championship Game in Las Vegas late Saturday, spoke this week about the ongoing pipeline from Norfolk to the major leagues.
“I try not to take too much credit for it because I’ve been very blessed and fortunate to have really good players that are both talented on the field and just super-high-character guys,” he said. “It’s made my job a lot easier.”
Holliday, the first overall pick of the 2022 draft, slashed .323/.442/.499 with 30 doubles, nine triples, 12 home runs, 113 runs, 75 RBIs, 101 walks and 24 stolen bases in 125 regular-season games among low Class-A Delmarva, high Class-A Aberdeen, Double-A Bowie, and Norfolk.
Recently named Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year, Holliday led the minors in runs, becoming the first O’s minor leaguer since at least 2005 to accomplish the feat.
In 2022, Holliday was named the nation’s best high school player by Baseball America. He joined Gunnar Henderson as the second straight Orioles farmhand to win BA’s top minor league award.
“Pretty cool to be able to win Player of the Year two years in a row,” Holliday said. “It’s quite an honor to be able to share that with Gunnar. Yeah, it’s really neat to be able to bring that back for the organization.”
McDermott, a 25-year-old former Ball State star, went 8-8 with one save and a 3.10 earned-run average, with 152 strikeouts while holding opponents to a .167 average in 26 games, including 22 starts, between Bowie and Norfolk. He led all qualified full-season minor leaguers in opponent average.
McDermott was acquired by the Orioles at last year’s trade deadline as part of a three-team trade with Houston and Tampa Bay after being selected by the Astros in the fourth round of the 2021 draft.
Britton, a 37-year-old former Norfolk utilityman in his second season managing the club, led the Tides to a 2-1 win in the bestof-three IL championship series this week, and to the best record in the league (90-59) while setting the franchise record for wins in a season.
He helped guide six players to their major league debuts this season, and 31 players appeared on the rosters of both Baltimore and Norfolk in 2023.
Britton also earned the honor in 2021 as Bowie’s skipper. He becomes the third multiple recipient since the award’s inception in 2003, joining former Tides pitching coach Mike Griffin (2009-10) and late Norfolk manager Ron Johnson (2015, 2018).
The Ripken Award is named for the late Orioles coach and manager who is widely regarded as the architect of “The Oriole Way.” Each year, a minor league staff member who exemplifies Ripken’s qualities as an instructor is recognized with the award.