The Orioles are promoting shortstop prospect Jackson Holliday from Double-A to Triple-A, the Norfolk Tides announced Tuesday. Holliday, the son of former All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday and the top prospect in all of baseball, is thus poised to play at his fourth different level in 2023.
The 19-year-old Holliday started out the season at the Low-A Carolina League, and subsequent promotions to High-A and then Double-A followed. Across those rungs, he's slashed .333/.451/.517 with 45 extra-base hits, 85 walks, and 23 stolen bases in 107 total games this season. This latest promotion comes after Holliday put up a line of .338/.421/.507 in 36 games for Double-A Bowie despite being much younger than his peer group.
In early June of this year, our own R.J. Anderson undertook a re-rank of his preseason top-prospect list and ranked Holliday No. 1. Here's part of what he wrote about Holliday:
"Holliday has middle-of-the-order offensive upside, complete with the ability to hit for average and power alike, as well as middle-of-the-infield defensive skills. (The Orioles have cross-trained him at second base to bolster their options.) A veteran talent evaluator said that Holliday is so far ahead of the pack that, if they could, they would trade their club's two best prospects (both well-regarded in their own right) for him."
The Orioles made Holliday the top overall pick of the 2022 draft out of Stillwater High School in Oklahoma. Expectations for any No. 1 pick are inevitably lofty, and Holliday in his brief professional career has exceeded even those. He's looking every bit like a future star, and this puts him in line to make his MLB debut at some point, probably early, in the 2024 season.
The first-place Orioles are already flush with young stars, and the ascent of Holliday only improves their long-term outlook.
