The Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka was first to report the news on Tuesday night.
The top Orioles prospect is on his way back to the majors to get a second crack at making a first impression. Hours after the O’s signaled a shakeup coming to the roster with their trade deadline activity, The Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka added one more move to the list with a report that Jackson Holliday is heading to Baltimore..
Holliday was a late scratch from Triple-A Norfolk’s lineup on Tuesday night, a decision that was announced just soon enough before the deadline that some people initially overreacted and wondered if it meant he was being traded. They weren’t wrong to think Holliday is headed to a different city. It’s just that he’s coming from Charlotte, where Norfolk is playing this week, back to Baltimore.
It’s been more than three months now since Holliday’s first taste of the majors ended unceremoniously. The 20-year-old played in ten games for the Orioles in April, collecting just two hits across 36 plate appearances, with strikeouts in literally half of all of those PA. It was disappointing that he wasn’t doing better, but it didn’t feel like he was gaining anything from the experience.
Since then, Holliday has been down in Norfolk, reportedly having worked on some slight mechanical tweaks that will give him a better opportunity to catch up to MLB-caliber fastball velocity. To some extent, it’s impossible to know how that will take until he faces MLB pitchers again. They are better than Triple-A guys.
The results against the Triple-A guys have certainly been going well, as he’s batted .259/.421/.455 in 63 games since going back down to the minors. The walk rate stands out there as a reason to challenge him with MLB again. He can’t learn much from pitchers who are afraid of him.
Holliday missed a couple of weeks in June due to elbow inflammation. After returning from the injured list, he spent about three weeks serving only as the designated hitter before getting back in action in the field. Actually, he’s only played six games in the field since the injury. It seems the Orioles think that’s enough to demonstrate that he’s ready.
With Jorge Mateo’s injury and the trade of Connor Norby to the Marlins, there are regular second base reps to be had with the Orioles right now. Mateo was transferred to the 60-day injured list as part of Tuesday’s flurry of roster moves, confirming that he won’t be back until at least late September. What are they going to do, leave Terrin Vavra around? Well, okay, if anyone’s going to do something that weird, it’s the O’s. But I assume they won’t actually demonstrate the weirdness in this way on this occasion.
I’m both excited and nervous to see Holliday again. I hope this turns out to be part of the boost that the team needs to emerge from the doldrums they’ve been stuck in for a lot of July.