What happened to Jackson Holliday? Taking a look at former no. 1 prospect's damaging 2024 season
For a brief moment, it looked like the future, a.k.a Jackson Holliday, was here. The slugger dominated Spring Training just a year-and-a-half after being drafted and was eventually called up to the big leagues. Unfortunately, things did not go as per plan.
It should be noted that the 10-game sample size is very small for anyone, let alone someone trying to catch up to MLB pitching for the first time. Recall that Aaron Judge had a brutal month of April, and now he's the MVP favorite. It should also be noted that in those 10 games, Holliday was horrendous.
He struck out 50% of the time. That would be the league leader by 12.5% (Nolan Gorman). Notable strikeout or home run players have a K rate of around 30%, and Holliday was well above that.
He had a -51 wRC+, which means he was 151% worse than the league-average hitter at creating runs. His basic stats tell an ugly story as well: .059 batting average, .111 on-base percentage, .059 slugging percentage, -0.3 fWAR.
The Baltimore Orioles decided that it wasn't worth a potential hitch in development, so they sent the 20-year-old back down on April 26. He has not been back since.
When might Jackson Holliday return?
It is both fortunate and unfortunate that Jackson Holliday is a shortstop. It's unfortunate because Gunnar Henderson has that position locked down and he likely won't cede it for the next half-decade at least.
It is fortunate, though, because it means that Holliday can easily slide to either second or third base. He tried second base the first time he was up, and could play third base since Ramon Urias is hitting and defending poorly from that spot right now.
Orioles GM Mike Elias has said that, during the second half, both Holliday and Coby Mayo could be major contributors to the team. Since his demotion back to the minors, Holliday is hitting to the tune of .897 OPS. That's below his normal production level, but is still very good.