Two of baseball’s emerging stars are inextricably tied to one another.
Jackson Holliday and James Wood have ascended similar mountains to nascent big league success 40 miles apart. They’ve wrestled for Baseball America’s top prospect ranking along the way. They’ve occupied opposite minor league dugouts. Mega-agent Scott Boras represents both. And the two have been peppered with the same anticipatory questions of their crossing paths.
On Tuesday, the two rookies finally met for the first time before 28,058 fans at Camden Yards.
“I know I got to see [him] first hand last year but getting to do it in the big leagues is awesome,” Holliday said before the Orioles’ 9-3 loss. “I’d love to talk to him. Hopefully he hits a double and I get to talk to him for a bit.”
That chance came rather quickly.
Wood’s sharp liner to left scored the game’s first two runs. Perhaps eager to meet Holliday, he darted for second on a hit-and-run as debutant first baseman Andrés Chaparro sent the ball foul. But as Wood began his trudge back to first, he extended a reticent high five to Holliday. Wood later hit that coveted double, but was off to third on the next pitch — part of a four-hit night.
“It ended up just being a, ‘What’s up?’” Wood said. “But it was cool to see him out there. Obviously playing against him in the minor leagues. He’s super talented. This is where he belongs.”
The Orioles second basemen’s entire baseball life has been well-documented. As the son of seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday, he grew up in clubhouses taking batting practice alongside the pros.
Wood, on the other hand, was born in Rockville and grew up in Olney.
His mom shared a picture midgame from Wood’s birthday years ago at Camden Yards alongside his grandfather, where the two used to watch Chris Davis and Zack Britton from the stands. Wood never ditched his roots; he was slow to meet reporters postgame because he was busy teaching teammates how to eat crabs like a true Marylander (claws first). Like pitcher Mitch Parker from New Mexico, who has “never been within 200 miles of a crab,” Wood joked.
How it started and how it’s going (I grew up in Randallstown. Of course my Dad took him to O’s games!) https://t.co/1UCfqRNW23 pic.twitter.com/yV022v4qiR
— Paula Wood (@PaulaWoodDMV) August 14, 2024
Having the offensive output Wood did with four hits all reaching exit velocities of 99.5 mph or higher meant a tad more for the outfielder doing it back at Camden Yards. It’s another feather in his cap of a promising start to his career.
On a shared Zoom call before the “Spring Breakout” exhibition game in March, which also included Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, the trio were asked about first impressions of one another.
“I remember the first time I saw Jackson play,” Wood said. “We were in Low-A and it was in Fredericksburg and he came over. I was hurt, so I didn’t play, so I was just watching. Kind of just watching, I was like, ‘Dang, this dude kind of always puts up a good at-bat like every at-bat.’ That was sort of my first impression.”
Holliday offered a tale of similar awe: “I got to face James in High-A and Double-A, and he was always really fun for me to watch and I really enjoyed playing against him. I know he hit a bomb in Wilmington, which is pretty hard to do, through the rain and wind, and it was extremely impressive.”
Baltimore won the Holliday lottery in 2022, selecting him first overall in the draft. He rocketed through the minor leagues and made his Orioles debut in April. It went about as poorly as it could’ve — a treacherous 2-for-34 with 18 strikeouts. The 20-year-old went back to Triple-A Norfolk, lowered his stance to better prepare for high velocity, and launched a grand slam in his big league return earlier this month. Any questions about his power have been erased since.
Nationals manager Dave Martinez has known Holliday since he was running around ballparks as a kid shadowing Matt.
“I like him. He’s a good kid,” Martinez said. “He’s swinging the bat. He’s a good little player. Hopefully we can contain him a little bit but he’s playing really well.”
The younger Holliday singled once in four at-bats Tuesday. But during the Orioles’ most recent road trip, he became the youngest American League player to homer in three consecutive games.
As for the towering 6-foot-7 Wood, he was a second-round pick in 2021 to the San Diego Padres. Then a part of Washington’s blockbuster deal that sent four-time All-Star Juan Soto out west.
The Nationals were a bit slower to call Wood up. But like Holliday, he tweaked his stance — more narrow while his hands are a smidge higher and further back — which translated to major league success. Since making his debut July 1, Wood is batting .279 with a .809 OPS and four home runs. He dethroned Holliday as Baseball America’s top prospect within a week of his debut, bumping the Oriole to second.
“I’ve never seen him play in person,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said Tuesday afternoon, “but I do watch Nationals games, and I did watch stuff coming into this series. The athleticism, the power, the length, really, really tall, lanky, strong. He’s going to be a really good player in this league.”
There’s an inescapable fanfare that accompanies top prospects. Wood and Holliday received the full treatment.
Call-up videos went viral for both. Minor league highlights made endless rounds among each fanbase, clamoring to see their future star. Both came with such grandeur, their team’s had commemorative t-shirt giveaways. Ballpark crowds rose to their feet, phone cameras in hand, for so many at-bats.
Both are on trajectories to be franchise cornerstones. Thus, Tuesday night was quite possibly the start of a new Beltway Series rivalry.