Jackson Holliday of the Baltimore Orioles looks on during the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at T-Mobile Park on July 08, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
By Julian Guilarte
World Baseball Network
The Baltimore Orioles called up their top prospect, shortstop Jackson Holliday, to their Triple-A affiliate the Norfolk Tides on September 3.
The news was first reported by Orioles reporter Steve Melewski of MASN Sports. Holliday is the top prospect in the MLB Pipeline’s top 100 rankings.
Holliday bats left-handed and throws right-handed, and has also played 16 games at second base and two at third base this season. Holliday started the season with the Orioles Low-A affiliate, the Delmarva Shorebirds, and has now gone through every level of their minor league system.
On July 28, Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias spoke with reporter Jacob Calvin Meyer of the Baltimore Sun about the possibility of Holiday getting called up to the Orioles this season.
“I wouldn’t rule it out, but, I mean, I don’t rule out anything, as you can probably tell,” Elias told the Sun. “One step at a time. He’s in Double-A. He was in high school a year ago. He’s doing very, very, very, very well. If he climbs beyond Double-A this year, it would be borderline unprecedented. I don’t want to put any more on his plate than continuing to kind of accrue his minor league experience.”
Holliday was the first overall selection in the 2022 MLB draft, and is the son of former big league outfielder Matt Holliday, who spent most of his 15-year career from 2004-18 with the St. Louis Cardinals and Colorado Rockies.
Jackson Holliday is following in his father’s footsteps and was exposed to big-league clubhouses at a young age.
On Oct. 2, 2014, when Jackson Holiday was 10, Matt Holliday, then a member the St. Louis Cardinals, hit Jackson pop-ups at Dodgers Stadium before Game One of the NLDS.
Matt Holliday took notice of his son’s talent during his early years with the Colorado Rockies and could tell that Jackson Holiday always had a love for baseball.
“I would be struggling and trying to watch his movements because they were just so natural but yet so mechanically sound,” Matt Holiday told Jacob Unruh of the Oklahoman on May 24, 2022.
“Our whole family’s well known, in baseball at least,” Jackson said. “It’s good to wear it with pride.”
The younger Holliday went to Stillwater High School in Oklahoma and won the Oklahoma Gatorade Player of the Year in 2022. He set a national record with 89 RBI that same season. Holiday also played on USA Baseball’s 18U team.
In 2022, he played 20 games with the Orioles rookie ball team and the Shorebirds. He had one home run, nine RBI, and stole four bases with an OPS of .911.
In 2023, he started his season with the Shorebirds and played 14 games before he was called up to the Orioles High-A affiliate, the Aberdeen IronBirds on April 24. Holliday had two home runs, 16 RBI, and three stolen bases with an OPS of 1.182 with the Shorebirds in 2023.
Holliday played 57 games with the IronBirds. He had five home runs, 35 RBI, 17 stolen bases, and an OPS of .940. Holliday was selected to play in the MLB All-Star Futures Game in Seattle at T-Mobile Park on July 7.
At the start of the second half of the season on July 14, Holliday was promoted to the Baltimore Orioles’ Double-A affiliate, the Bowie Baysox. Holiday played 36 games there and had three home runs, 15 RBI, a .338 batting average, and an OPS of .928.
He has 10 home runs, 66 RBI, 23 stolen bases, and an OPS of .968 this season from Low-A to Double-A. On defense, he’s made 10 errors with a fielding percentage of .969.
The Norfolk Tides will play September 5 at home against the Miami Marlins Triple-A affiliate the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp at 6:35 p.m EST. The game will be streamed live on MiLB.com with a paid subscription.