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Jarod Rupp will take a look back on Jackson Holliday's rise to the big leagues, looking at his short time as a prospect to see what makes him good and why fantasy baseball managers want to roster him.
Well, that didn't take long. Drafted by the Baltimore Orioles as the first overall pick in the 2022 draft, Jackson Holliday made his MLB debut Wednesday night in Boston. He manned second base for the O's and batted ninth.
There's a plethora of O's prospects hitting the cover off the ball in the minors, including Heston Kjerstad, Coby Mayo, and Connor Norby to name a few, but it was Holliday who got the call to the majors first in 2024. To be fair, Kjerstad made his MLB debut in 2023 and another former top prospect, Colton Cowser, made the big league club out of camp.
After excelling at every level in the minors, it was a matter of when, not if, Holliday would get to the pros. So, what makes him special? What's he good at? Is he bad at anything? Let's check out what he's done to this point in his career.
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Jackson Holliday Prospect Analysis
After a dominant senior year in high school that culminated with being named Oklahoma Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year, Jackson Holliday was selected first overall in the 2022 MLB Draft. And yes, in case you somehow hadn't heard, he is the son of former seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday.
How confident is Jackson Holliday hitting out of the leadoff spot?
MLB's No. 1 prospect (@Orioles) called his latest home run: https://t.co/0f7Lyl5A7C pic.twitter.com/2N8hXczawD
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) April 3, 2024
The youngster began 2023 in Single-A at the age of 19, batting .396 and had more walks than strikeouts (14:13), earning him a promotion to High-A where again he hit over .300 and had nearly the same amount of walks as strikeouts (50:54). He even stole 17 bases during his time there, which lasted 57 games. With another promotion in order, he hit .338 at Double-A over 36 games, finally earning a promotion to Triple-A for the final 18 games in which he held his own with a .267 BA and a 16:17 BB:K.
Over the course of 2023, Holliday tallied a .941 OPS and won MLB Pipeline's Prospect Hitter of the Year honors. He's clearly got superb bat-to-ball skills and a good eye at the plate. MLB scouting grades register his Hit tool at 70, Power at 60, and Run at 60. Arm and Field come in at 55, and he's got an overall grade of 70, putting him as the No. 1 rated prospect at MLB.com.
The left-handed hitter can hit both lefties and righties well based on what we've seen at the minor league level. Over 595 minor league plate appearances in 2023, the (at the time) 19-year-old hit .331 off of RHP and .296 off of LHP. The main difference was the power output, with all 12 of his home runs coming off of RHP. Scouts also say that more power will come with age, so having just 12 home runs over that many at-bats is not a concern. Oh, and his first home run of 2024 came off of... you guessed it, a lefty!
HAPPY OPENING DAY JACKSON HOLLIDAY!!!@J_Holliday7 absolutely crushes this pitch for first at bat of the 2024 season for the Tides!!!!
This is #Birdland #RisingTide pic.twitter.com/eSbSFQvmaU
— Norfolk Tides (@NorfolkTides) March 29, 2024
If you're wondering about 2024, through 10 games played at Triple-A, Holliday has a .333 BA, two HRs, nine RBI, 18 runs scored, and a 12:8 BB:K, so he's off to an even better start than his short stint from 2023. So, he's good at everything? Well, yes, on the offensive side. As evidenced by his 55 grade arm, that could use some improvement, but again, he's still just 20 years old. So, he'll play second base in the majors, at least for now, but also because the O's have 2023 AL Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson manning shortstop.
It was somewhat of a surprise to see the youngster in the bigs so early in the season; however, with an 85% rostership in Yahoo leagues, many fantasy managers saw this coming sooner rather than later. If he's available in your league, he's surely worth a bench spot. But remember, especially in dynasty leagues, patience is key. There are Ronald Acuna Jr. (.293 BA in 111 G in debut season) types and there are also Mike Trout types (.220 BA in 40 G in debut season).
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