Triple-A a ‘win-win situation’ for Holliday
Top prospect homers in season debut after missing cut with O’s
NORFOLK, Va. — Before Chayce McDermott took the ball Friday night for the Norfolk Tides’ season opener against Durham, the 25-year-old right-hander knew he had some wiggle room.
On the top team in the top farm system in baseball, McDermott’s offense is likely to have his back.
Coming off a historic season, the Tides broke camp with experience and a wealth of promising talent, including the top prospect in the game.
It’s why McDermott, a 2021 fourth-round draft pick of the Houston Astros, can pitch without worrying about being too fine. He held the Tampa Bay Rays’ affiliate to a run and a hit in 4 ⅓ innings Friday while striking out six and walking five as the Tides rolled to a 12-8 win.
“Obviously, you’re never trying to give up runs, but one run doesn’t feel as big of a deal for me pitching with the lineup we have,” McDermott said Thursday. “We have a bunch of new guys that I think will surprise a lot of people and really show how good we are as a team this year.”
The parent Orioles have drafted, signed and developed an abundance of top talent in recent years, resulting in a logjam at the organization’s upper levels.
Several players on Norfolk’s roster would almost certainly be in the big leagues in other organizations, forcing them to wait their turn.
Meanwhile, they’ll attempt to repeat as International League and Triple-A national champions for as long as they’re here.
“I’ve joked before with guys that, if you look at the roster, it’s almost like a major league JV team with the amount of guys that could impact big league teams and will end up impacting the big league team at some point this year,” said left-hander Cade Povich, the organization’s 10th-ranked prospect by MLB.com.
No player’s arrival in Baltimore is more anticipated than that of infielder Jackson Holliday, who was a late cut from the big league roster this spring.
The 20-year-old Holliday, who spent the end of last season with Norfolk to complete a meteoric rise through four levels of the minors, is baseball’s consensus top prospect, the third Tides player to earn that distinction since 2021.
Holliday, the son of former All-Star Matt Holliday, hit .311 with two homers and six RBIs in 19 Grapefruit League games. Many fans were surprised when he failed to make the major league team.
He said he was not.
“Not really,” said Holliday, who went 3-for-5 with a leadoff home run, a double and four RBIs in his season debut Friday. “I had a lot of questions about that in spring training. I either make the team as a 20-yearold or I go to Triple-A as a 20-year-old. So I think it was a pretty win-win situation. I did everything that I could’ve at big league camp. This is the result, which I’m completely fine with. I know there’s certain things that I need to work on.”
Slugging infielder Coby Mayo, ranked 30th among all prospects by MLB, hit .267 with 12 homers and 55 RBIs in 62 games after joining Norfolk from Double-A Bowie last season.
He fell short of his goal of reaching the big leagues at 21, but at 22, Mayo waits in the wings.
“You look around and you see other guys getting called up to the major leagues, and you’re super-happy for them,” said Mayo, who went 2-for-5 but, like Jackson, committed a throwing error Friday. “And you know your time is going to come. It’s not about if it’s going to come; it’s when it’s going to come, and you’ve got to just keep going every day like your name’s going to be called tomorrow.”
That will remain a possibility all season for most of the players in Harbor Park’s home clubhouse. The Tides return the nucleus of a team that won 90 regular-season games, making filling out the lineup card a joy for manager
Buck Britton.
“I think we’re kind of in a situation in the organization where we have a lot of repeat offenders, if you will, up and down this whole roster,” Britton said. “There’s a lot of guys that have been here. It’s kind of a double-edged sword, right? It’s kind of bittersweet. I’m glad to have them back. Obviously, in a perfect world, all of them would be sitting on major league teams right now. But we’re excited to have these guys.”
Right-hander Garrett Stallings, a Chesapeake native who grew up going to games at Harbor Park, said there has already been talk of a repeat performance.
“Guys are kind of whispering out there, ‘You know what? We’re here. Let’s go win another one,’” he said. “But in our mind, too, we want to just continue to get better as players and wear that Orioles uniform. I think that’s everyone’s goal, and our coaching staff wants us to continue to improve.”
Holliday is an avid fisherman, a hobby that he said has helped him learn patience. After a whirlwind season in which his bags stayed packed, he’s finally settled in one place.
But don’t think he’s not in a hurry to get out of here.
“I think having a year under my belt is very helpful,” Holliday said. “And to be able to know that, hopefully, I only have one stop to make this year and one move, and that’s my goal, is to be in the big leagues as quick as possible.”