There was a time when Baltimore Orioles infielder Jackson Holliday was universally viewed as the top prospect in all of baseball. In fact, that was just a couple of years ago.
Since then, however, things have taken a drastic turn.
Holliday made his big-league debut in 2024 and laid an egg. In 60 games, he slashed .189/.255/.311 with five home runs and 23 RBI. But because it was just his rookie campaign, patience was exercised.
Then, last season, Holliday slashed .242/.314/.375 with 17 homers and 55 RBI over 649 plate appearances. He also stole 17 bases, but was caught 11 times.
Better than his debut season? Sure. What the Orioles expected? Absolutely not.
Well, things have gotten even worse this year for Holliday, who is slashing .219/.329/.365 with five long balls and 16 RBI across 164 trips to the dish. He has also been a disaster at second base.
And now, we have people calling for Baltimore to move on from the 22-year-old.
Chris Landers of FanSided, for example, thinks that the Orioles should already pull the plug on the Holliday experiment with the MLB trade deadline looming. While Landers didn’t go as far to say that the O’s should jettison Holliday, it’s not hard to read between the lines.
“Looking at Holliday, it’s awfully difficult to find reason to believe he’s a couple tweaks away from stardom — or even becoming a starting-caliber player,” Landers wrote. “The defense has been bad at second base from pretty much the moment Baltimore stuck him there to accommodate Gunnar Henderson, and the fact that it hasn’t gotten any better in year three is concerning to say the least. All of which would be easier to stomach if Holliday were hitting like he was expected to hit, or anywhere close to it.”
Landers isn’t entirely sure Baltimore should continue being patient with Holliday, as doesn’t think he has given the Orioles any reason to do so.
“It’s tough to identify the path forward here, especially considering how high the bar for his bat will be if he can’t be a viable defender up the middle,” Landers added.
Landers doesn’t see any viable replacements within Baltimore’s organization at the moment, but perhaps that is something the Orioles can take into consideration before Aug. 3.
We’ll see if Baltimore continues to wait it out with Holliday … or if the O’s decide to go in another direction.
