When Jackson Holliday made his MLB debut, he became forever linked with an Orioles legend.
The No. 7 he was given had been unofficially retired for decades in honor of Cal Ripken Sr., making him the first Oriole to wear the number since Billy Ripken. Holliday was given the blessing to don the significant number by Cal Ripken Jr. before his debut in April.
On Friday night, Holliday connected himself with another Orioles legend.
The youngster became the second-youngest player in Orioles history to record a four-hit game in Baltimore’s 12-10 loss to the Boston Red Sox. The only player to achieve the feat at a younger age?
Brooks Robinson.
“That’s quite something,” Holliday said. “Obviously very special to be able to share that with him and hopefully many more in the future.”
At 20 years and 256 days old on Friday, Holliday was 126 days older than Robinson was on Sept. 25, 1957, when he smacked four hits against the New York Yankees.
Holliday went 4-for-5 with three singles, one triple, three runs and one RBI. His triple, the first of his career, made him the youngest Orioles player to hit one since Manny Machado (20 years, 59 days old) in 2012. He also became the youngest Orioles player with three hits and three runs in a game.
His performance Friday came amid one of the Orioles’ best offensive outputs of the season with 10 runs and 17 hits. But it wasn’t enough to overcome struggles from starter Corbin Burnes and ex-closer Craig Kimbrel.
“Any time that you can put up how many runs that we did … it’s special,” Holliday said. “We are a special offense and to be able to put up that many runs is always fun.”
When he was promoted in April, he made his debut against the Red Sox in Boston, going hitless in the series. He ended his first stint in the show 2-for-34 with 18 strikeouts to earn a demotion back to Triple-A.
“It was pretty awesome to do that against the team that I debuted against and didn’t do quite well,” Holliday said with a smile. “It sucks that we lost, we kept fighting but at the end of the day we came up short. It was pretty special to get four hits.”
Holliday is far too young to compare with Robinson, a Hall of Famer, 1964 American League Most Valuable Player, 18-time All-Star and 16-time Gold Glove Award winner. But Holliday has spent the past few weeks displaying the talent that made him the sport’s No. 1 prospect entering the season.
Since rejoining the Orioles on July 31, he’s been one of the team’s best players, giving the club a boost with All-Star Jordan Westburg on the injured list. His 0.5 wins above replacement by FanGraphs’ estimation over that span ranked third among Orioles players entering Friday, behind only AL MVP candidate Gunnar Henderson and AL Rookie of the Year front-runner Colton Cowser.
In 15 games since he was recalled, Holliday is slashing .286/.333/.607 — good for a .940 OPS — with five homers, 14 RBIs and 13 runs. That success has improved his season-long numbers to a .200 average and a .650 OPS.
Friday wasn’t the first time Holliday was associated with an Orioles legend. It almost certainly won’t be his last.