All eyes were on the Baltimore Orioles when they called up top prospect Jackson Holliday. However with Holliday not producing as expected, the Orioles were forced to make a difficult decision.
Baltimore demoted Holliday to Triple-A on Friday, the team announced. In turn, Ryan McKenna was called up while David Banuelos was designated for assignment.
Holliday had hit just .059 with a single RBI over his first 10 major league games. He walked twice compared to a brutal 18 strikeouts.
Jackson Holliday's rise, fall and potential return to greatness
The Orioles made Jackson Holliday the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft. With his father being the legendary Matt Holliday, it was clear early on that baseball ran in Jackson's blood. He showed signs of his talent over his first 20 games of professional baseball, hitting .297 with a home run, nine RBI and four stolen bases.
By 2023, Holliday had found his stride in the minors. He appeared at four different levels, moving up from A all the way to Triple-A. Over the 125 total games he played in, Holliday hit .323 with 12 home runs, 75 RBI and 24 stolen bases.
His prospect pedigree had begun catching the eye of fans around the league. He ended the 2023 season ranked as the No. 3 prospect in Baltimore's organization and the 12th-best prospect in all of baseball, via MLB Pipeline. By 2024, he was No. 1 both for the Orioles and the entire league. After a .333 batting average with two home runs, nine RBI and a stolen base over his first 10 2024 Triple-A games, Baltimore gave Holliday the call.
But upon arrival, Holliday never seemed to find his stroke at the major league level. He recorded just five hits in his 34 at-bats, neither of them being for extra base hits. Over his 10 games, Holliday had 2+ strikeouts in seven of them. He has had at least one strikeout in every single game.
As Holliday has continued to struggle, numerous other young Orioles have looked like budding stars. Gunnar Henderson is the reigning Rookie of the Year. But Jordan Westburg has looked just as strong next to him at second base. Adley Rutschman has developed into one of the best catchers of the year while Colten Cowser and the recently called up Heston Kjerstad possess immense potential.
As does Holiday. But rather than have him run through the MLB, the Orioles decided to give their top prospect some extra seasoning. With Baltimore chasing another AL East title, the move isn't too much of a surprise, at least to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
“Not a surprise here. It's not as if they need Jackson Holliday right now. From a team perspective, it's okay,” Rosenthal said. “We all scream for these guys to come up. Sometimes it doesn't work out the way we expect it's going to work out. It's not always a linear progression for all players. It doesn't come immediately for any player.”
Only 20-years-old, the Orioles certainly aren't done with Jackson Holliday. But for now, the team wants him to find his swing in the minor leagues.
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