How Jackson Holliday has turned it around

The 20-year-old is a completely different hitter since his second call-up, crushing fastballs and posting top hard-hit rates.

He’s hotter than the pepper sprout! (Ask Johnny Cash, or Ben McDonald, who said it the other day from the MASN booth.) Before elaborating further, let’s just drop this here:

The swing, the bat speed, the power. Jackson Holliday is 9-for-24 with four home runs and 10 RBIs in his last eight games since getting called back up from Norfolk, good for a .375 average and 1.361 OPS.

That’s quite a turnaround from his first ten big-league games, when he went 2-for-34, a lowly .059 average, with no extra-base knocks.

Holliday was sent down after this frustrating stretch, worked through elbow pain, got called up for a second time at the end of July, and since, he’s flat-out dominated.

He hit a grand slam in his first game back. He recorded three consecutive multi-hit games after that. Now, he’s homered in the last three games, the first time a 20-year-old rookie has ever done that.

Is it … Golden Tee Golf? “Honestly, once I started playing it in Norfolk, I started hitting good again,” the 20-year-old told MLB.com’s Jake Rill. “I made a hole-in-one on a par-five today, so I think that was a guaranteed two hits.” He played it each time before his multi-hit games this weekend.

Well, that’s one explanation. Another is mindset. “Showing a lot more confidence,” says manager Brandon Hyde. Holliday said, “Honestly, a whole lot more comfortable. Just trusting myself and my approach and just trying to have fun.”

Another is much better pitch recognition, and an obvious change in mechanics. Early this year, Holliday was swinging at far too many pitches: that’s how you strike out 19 times in your first career 34 AB’s. He swung at almost 30% of fastballs outside the zone in April. In August, he’s cut those rates down to about 20%.

He also could not hit those heaters. The 20-year-old swung and missed on an incredible (not in the good way) 59.4% of fastballs his first month-plus. Think about it: for every ten fastballs a pitcher threw him, he’d whiff on six. Rough stuff.

Now take a look at his swing. Here is Jackson in April, looking really uncomfortable as he swings through a Kenley Jansen offering.

Now here is Jackson in August, looking way more comfortable and quick to the ball against Cleveland’s Joey Cantillo. I’m no hitting coach (that would be fun), but I see a more compact stance, and an earlier leg kick that’s timed better with the swing. No surprise that he’s quicker to fastballs this month.

Word has gotten out: he’s putting up some crazy numbers, especially against fastballs, against which he struggled so badly in April: a .585 average and 1.077 slugging, to give a sizzling-hot 100.7 mph average exit velocity.

About hard-hitting: perhaps the most impressive aspect of his game has been how hard and how far he’s hitting the ball. Since July 31, the only player with a higher hard-hit rate is Aaron Judge.

Holliday and Hyder are saying similar things about the change, and both suggest adjustments to his timing were key. Says manager Hyde, “The way he can stay on the baseball is much improved.” The rookie added, “I’m starting to see the ball a little deeper and allowing myself to go the other way, which allows me to see the ball for a longer time.”

This is the version of Holliday that all of us expected the first time, even if he is just a kid. We’ve seen every touted Orioles rookie struggle in their first few weeks in MLB, and this seems to be what Jackson Holliday endured, as well. This time around, he’s comfortable and ready to play.

A good thing, too. To weather a glut of pitching injuries, the Orioles will need their bats to pick them up. So far this season, second base has been a position of offensive weakness: .228/.261/.427/.688. That no longer seems like the case. The arrival of one more Orioles star prospect gives Baltimore a big boost as it enters a tight home stretch in the race for the American League East division title.