Making the No. 1 overall pick for the third time in club history and the second time in four years under general manager Mike Elias, the Orioles bet on an impressive bloodline paying off in selecting high school shortstop Jackson Holliday.
The son of seven-time All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday, Jackson is a product of Stillwater High in Oklahoma and was one of five players considered by Baltimore for the choice. His ascending power from the left side and projected ability to remain at shortstop tipped the scales in his favor with Elias labeling Jackson a five-tool player with “a tremendous balance of floor and ceiling.” He will inevitably be compared to high school center fielder Druw Jones, who was a popular choice for the top pick among pundits before going second to Arizona and is the son of five-time All-Star center fielder Andruw Jones.
Listed at 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, Jackson was selected as the Gatorade Oklahoma Baseball Player of the Year and Baseball America’s High School Player of the Year after batting a remarkable .685 with a 1.392 on-base plus slugging percentage, 29 doubles, six triples, 17 home runs, 74 runs scored, 79 runs batted in, and 30 stolen bases in 40 games during his senior season. His 89 hits set a national high school record for hits in a single season, surpassing the previous record of 88 set by J.T. Realmuto in 2010.
“He’s an 18-year-old kid, so he’s got refinement ahead of him, but there’s a tremendous base of fundamentals to go along with elite physical tools, much of which came on this spring,” Elias said. “He made an unusually big jump from the summer [of 2021] to the spring and just laid down a dominant high school season and looked like the best player in the draft all spring, so that’s why we took him. I think anytime that you have an offensive shortstop — especially a left-handed hitter — in a draft class, you take it very, very seriously. Ultimately, we decided to pull the trigger.”
Jackson’s father played 15 seasons in the majors, and his uncle, Josh, is the current head baseball coach at Oklahoma State, where the prep star had committed before the draft. His grandfather, Tom, was the former head baseball coach for those same Cowboys, making it evident the family had prepared Jackson for this moment his entire life. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Jackson joins Ken Griffey Jr. (1987) as the only sons of former major league players to be selected with the first overall pick.
Here’s what folks were saying about Jackson Holliday when he was 3. From a profile I wrote on Matt and his baseball family before the 2007 World Series: pic.twitter.com/tvvjX1yDgl
The first prep player to be selected No. 1 overall in the amateur draft since Minnesota took shortstop Royce Lewis in 2017, Jackson was the first high schooler taken in the first round by the Orioles since pitcher Grayson Rodriguez in 2018. His selection broke the trend of Elias taking a college hitter with his first pick after he drafted Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman first overall in 2019, Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad second overall in 2020, and Sam Houston State outfielder Colton Cowser fifth overall last year. Unlike the Kjerstad and Cowser picks that went underslot to enable Baltimore to devote more bonus pool money to later picks, Jackson isn’t expected to provide as much of a discount from the approximate $8.84 million slot value.
This marked the first time the Orioles have had picks in the top five in four straight years since they did it in six consecutive years from 2007-12. With Baltimore showing marked improvement in 2022 and now entering the All-Star break with a .500 record at 46-46 after winning 11 of its last 13 games, the organization hopes it won’t be picking this early in the draft again for a very long time.
There are never any guarantees with the draft, of course, but the successful development of the Orioles’ latest No. 1 overall pick would go a long way in ensuring that.
On Sunday night, Baltimore also selected Cal-Berkeley outfielder Dylan Beavers with the 33rd pick, Clemson third baseman Max Wagner at 42nd overall, and Florida outfielder Jud Fabian with the 67th overall selection to conclude its Day 1 activity.
A year ago the Orioles got their pocket picked when they planned to pick Jud Fabian. The Red Sox took him before them. This year, they got their man. Jud Fabian, the first pick of the competitive balance B round (pick 67).
Courtesy of the Orioles, below are the bios for Beavers, Wagner, and Fabian:
Beavers, 20, slashed .291/.426/.634 (62-for-213) with 16 doubles, three triples, 17 home runs, 62 runs scored, 50 RBI, and seven stolen bases in 56 games for the Golden Bears during his junior season. His 17 home runs are tied for eighth-most in a single-season in program history, while his 36 career home runs rank seventh-most. Beavers led the team in RBI, total bases (135), and multi-RBI games (13). The outfielder was named a First-Team All-Pac 12 selection for the second straight year and earned his second straight American Baseball Coaches AssociationWest All-Region First Team honor. He was named to the Golden Spikes Award Watch List, the Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award Watch List, and was named a First-Team Preseason All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. A graduate of Mission College Preparatory High School in San Luis Obispo, Calif., Beavers was a two-time First-Team All-California Interscholastic Federation selection and earned a USA Today All-USA Honorable Mention as a senior in high school. He was ranked as the No. 22 overall draft prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 26 by Baseball America.
Wagner, 20, hit .369/.496/.852 (75-for-203) with 15 doubles, one triple, 27 home runs, 66 runs scored, and 76 RBI during his sophomore season. He tied a school record with 27 home runs. He was named ACC Player of the Year after leading the conference in slugging percentage and OPS (1.348) while ranking tied for the ACC lead in home runs. His slugging percentage ranked second in the nation, trailing only Texas’ Ivan Melendez (.863). The Wisconsin native also paced Clemson in walks (45), runs, RBI, and total bases (173). Wagner set a single-season school record by averaging a home run every 7.5 at-bats. He is Clemson’s highest draft pick since 2019, when Logan Davidson was selected in the first round (No. 29 overall) by the Oakland Athletics. Wagner attended Preble High School in Green Bay, Wisc., and was named the 2020 Gatorade Wisconsin Baseball Player of the Year. He was ranked as the No. 66 overall draft prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 70 by Baseball America.
Fabian, 21, slashed .239/.414/.598 (56-for-234) with 10 doubles, one triple, 24 home runs, 63 runs scored, and 55 RBI in 66 games with the Gators during his redshirt junior season. The former Gator ranked among SEC leaders in walks (2nd, 62), home runs (T-2nd), and runs (T-9th) in 2022. His 56 career home runs rank third in program history. Hewas named a First-Team Preseason All-American by Collegiate Baseball, First-Team All-SEC Preseason selection, and to the Golden Spikes Award Watch List. Fabian was selected in the second round (40th overall) of the 2021 First-Year Player Draft by the Boston Red Sox, but did not sign. He graduated from Trinity Catholic High School in Ocala, Fla. He was ranked as the No. 52 overall draft prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 61 by Baseball America.
