Though this season has been a big disappointment for the Baltimore Orioles, there has been one name that has risen to the top and is starting to become an All-Star-caliber player.
Jackson Holliday started this season struggling through the first few weeks until his father Matt Holliday noticed something from thousands of miles away on his couch watching his son play on TV.
Matt noticed his son’s hands weren’t positioned in a way that could help Jackson execute on the swings he was taking.
Now, the hands are higher, and the barrel of the bat is more vertical. Mix that in with being an everyday starter, and you have a Jackson Holliday that has been able to become the star we all expected him to be.
In his last 30 games, Jackson Holliday has a batting average of .293 with an OPS of .787. We haven’t seen the power surge, but he’s been getting on base and generating traffic on the base paths.
The recent success and surge as one of the hottest hitters in baseball has earned him the right to be the everyday leadoff man for his ball club.
Most of the time, former manager Brandon Hyde had Holliday platooning versus right-handed pitching, but The Kid started putting it together towards the end of Hyde’s tenure with the club, which forced him to be an everyday starter. Under interim Tony Mansolino, that has continued to be the move.
Not only has his bat improved, but he’s settled into the second base position. Someone as athletic as Holliday would have picked it up sooner rather than later. We saw him earlier in the year in a plug and play role while Gunnar Henderson was out at shortstop.
Last year, Holliday struggled early. I saw things thrown out on social media going as far as labeling him a bust. We heard opposing fans chanting overrated when he stepped up to the plate, and he wasn’t even legally allowed to drink yet.
I realized how much he had grown during the O’s recent series in Milwaukee. Again, the fans in the stands were chanting “overrated” to the 21-year-old. Instead of running away from the moment, he decided to conquer it.
In the top of the 11th in the series finale, Holliday had a chance to bring in the game-winning run. He did just that with a hard-hit single to center field. He’s been patient at the plate and poking singles through the infield, and the approach of not trying to do too much is benefiting him as well as his team.
This year, Jackson Holliday is an All-Star-caliber player, and he deserves the votes for it. I will be at the forefront of the push to get him into the All-Star Game, and I hope other O’s fans push the agenda as well.
What are your thoughts on the emergence of Jackson Holliday? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, X, Bluesky and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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