In wake of trade deadline, top prospect Holliday returns to Orioles for stretch run

On the heels of making seven trades over the last week, the Orioles are now making a move that could pay even bigger dividends for the stretch run and beyond.

Prior to Wednesday’s series finale with Toronto, Baltimore recalled infielder Jackson Holliday from Triple-A Norfolk to become the primary second baseman. The 20-year-old consensus top prospect in baseball received his first taste of the majors in April and struggled immensely, going 2-for-34 with 18 strikeouts and two walks in just 10 games.

The lefty-swinging Holliday was optioned back to Triple-A on April 26.

At the time, few would have predicted that Holliday — the top overall pick in the 2022 draft — would remain at in the minors until late July, but right elbow inflammation landed him on the injured list in June and prompted the organization to ease him back into defensive duties. After being activated from the IL in late June, Holliday batted .273 with three home runs, nine doubles, 21 walks, 23 strikeouts, and a .932 on-base plus slugging percentage in 101 plate appearances. In 346 plate appearances for the Tides this season, Holliday batted .271 with 10 homers, 25 doubles, 75 walks, 77 strikeouts, and a .908 OPS.

Now, we’ll see how adjustments made after his debut stint will translate the second time around.

“I think the bright side of this is he got very intense, very specific feedback from major league pitching,” said general manager Mike Elias at the time of Holliday’s demotion. “He’s a brilliant talent and very sharp kid. I expect he’s going to go implement those adjustments really quickly, but we felt steady playing time in Triple-A was the place for that for a number of different reasons, including his projected playing time for the next couple weeks [and] also the fact that we’ve got a team in a tight race in the American League East. It’s just not the optimal place to be doing player development for a kid like him.

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“It’s nothing that Jackson did. We were the ones that have been moving him along this quickly. It was a little hiccup, and I think it’s probably the first one that he’s ever had. He’s ultimately going to be better off for it.”

To make room for Holliday on the 26-man roster, the Orioles optioned infielder Terrin Vavra to Norfolk. Vavra had his contract selected for Tuesday’s game after Baltimore sent infielder Connor Norby to Miami as part of the trade for left-handed starting pitcher Trevor Rogers.

The Orioles also activated lefty reliever Gregory Soto and optioned catcher Blake Hunt to Norfolk prior to Wednesday’s game.