The consensus best prospect in baseball is joining the Orioles in Boston.
Less than three weeks after being reassigned to minor league camp and after playing in 10 games with Triple-A Norfolk to open the 2024 season, infielder Jackson Holliday is being promoted to the majors and is now set to make his debut against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Drafted first overall as a shortstop in the 2022 amateur draft, the 20-year-old is expected to serve as Baltimore’s primary second baseman moving forward.
The decision to send the lefty-swinging Holliday to the minors late last month was met with much negative reaction after he batted .311 with seven extra-base hits and a .954 on-base plus slugging percentage in 48 plate appearances in the Grapefruit League. General manager Mike Elias expressed a preference for Holliday to gain more experience playing second base — he made just 20 starts there last season — and facing high-level left-handed pitching, but he denied service time playing a factor. After spending less than two weeks in the minors to begin 2024, Holliday will still be able to accrue a full year of major league service and also remains eligible for the Prospect Promotion Incentive program, which would award the Orioles a draft pick immediately following the first round if he wins AL Rookie of the Year or finishes in the top three in AL MVP voting before reaching arbitration.
Baltimore received the 32nd overall pick in this year’s draft after shortstop Gunnar Henderson was voted AL Rookie of the Year last season.
“With Jackson, I think it’s important to zoom out a little bit,” said Elias at the time of Holliday’s reassignment last month. “He is way, way ahead of the curve. He’s 20 years old. He just turned 20 [last December]. He’s reached Triple-A. He’s moved through the minors at a pace that we haven’t seen in a couple of decades arguably.
“When we think about developing and completing the development of a player of his talent, it’s something we have some experience doing. We’ve done it now with Adley [Rutschman] and Gunnar and guys like Jordan Westburg. There are a lot of considerations involved, so that when they do start their major league careers, you want them to be able to stay.”
Holliday was off to a red-hot start with the Tides, batting .333 with two home runs, five doubles, nine RBIs, 12 walks, and a 1.077 OPS in 56 plate appearances. He also went 4-for-10 with a homer and two doubles against left-handed pitchers. In 124 plate appearances against lefties across four minor-league levels last year, Holliday batted .296 with eight extra-base hits and a .776 OPS.
With the Orioles yet to announce Holliday’s promotion as of late Tuesday evening, it remains unclear what the corresponding roster move will be, but lefty-swinging veteran Tony Kemp — who was signed just a couple days before the season opener — has received the least amount of playing time of the infielders on the current 26-man roster. Jorge Mateo, Westburg, and Kemp have all started games at second base for the Orioles this season.
Holliday is the son of seven-time All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday and became the consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball after an extraordinary first full professional season that included a .323/.442/.499 slash line, 51 extra-base hits, 75 RBIs, 24 stolen bases, and 101 walks.
