Orioles To Promote Jackson Holliday

MLBs top prospect is set to make his debut. ESPNs Jeff Pa san reports ( ) that the Os plan to call up . The team has yet to announce the move. Holliday, the #1 overall pick in 2022, has destroyed minor league pitching. Despite being a high school draftee, he reaches the majors after just a year and a half in the minor leagues. The lefty-hitting infielder traversed four levels in his first full profe sional season. Holliday raked at a .323/.442/.499 clip over 581 plate appearances last season. He spent the majority of that time between High-A and Double-A but made it to the top minor Milwaukee Brewers Jersey league level late in the year. That meteoric rise made it seem that the Oklahoma native had a real chance to break camp. That didnt happen, as Baltimore rea signed Holliday back to Triple-A Norfolk late in Spring Training. The 20-year-old has opened the year on a tear as part of a loaded Tides lineup. Hed collected 13 hits (including four doubles and a pair of home runs) with 11 walks and eight strikeouts over his first nine games. The son of seven-time All-Star , Jackson owns an excellent .321/.452/.497 batting line through 154 minor league games. In addition to his stellar offensive track record, he offers plenty of defensive value as an above-average or better middle infielder. Holliday has primarily played shortstop in the minors, but the Os used him mostly at second base in Spring Training. Seven of his nine starts in Norfolk this year have come at the keystone, where he seems likely to break into the big leagues. Hollidays well-rounded profile has made him an e sentially unanimous choice as the games best minor league talent. Its the third straight season in which the Os entered the year with a player whom most evaluators consider the sports top prospect. Holliday will now join , and plenty more talented young players at Camden Yards. He should pair with Henderson in what has the chance to be a franchise-defining middle infield. Baltimore has relied on himself a former first-round pick and highly-regarded prospect as their primary second baseman in the early going. The Mi si sippi State product has started slowly, hitting .195/.242/.355 through his first nine games. Westburg could slide over to third base if the Os want to keep him in the everyday lineup. and , each of whom is on the roster as a multi-positional infielder, have struggled (albeit in exceedingly small samples). Westburg still has options remaining and could theoretically be sent back to Norfolk; the Orioles would need to designate Uras or Kemp for a signment to take either player off the big league club. The Os will likely reveal the corresponding move tomorrow. Holliday is not yet on the 40-man roster, but Baltimore has two vacancies. Unle s they DFA a player who cant be optioned, theyll only need to clear active roster space. Whatever the transaction, Holliday will step into the lineup on an everyday basis. The timing of the promotion surely isnt coincidental. By calling Holliday up before the end of this week, the Os are still in position to afford him a full year of service time. A player is credited with a full service year if theyre on an MLB roster or injured list for at least 172 days. Despite his two-week stint in the minors, Holliday will narrowly surpa s that mark if hes in the majors for good. Promoting a top prospect just before the cutoff for a full service year wouldve been unlikely under the previous collective bargaining agreement. It was more common to see teams hold down their top talents until a bit past that date to secure an extra year of contractual control. The 2022-26 CBA introduced the Prospect Promotion Incentive to reduce the temptation for teams to keep their best young players in the minor leagues. The PPI allows the Orioles to potentially win a draft choice if Holliday hits the ground running. A top position player prospect who accrues a full service year as a rookie (even if hes not on the Opening Day roster) would earn his team an extra pick after the first round if he wins Rookie of the Year or finishes in the top three in MVP voting during his pre-arbitration seasons. Holliday still meets that criteria. The Os already earned an extra pick in the 2024 draft when Henderson won Rookie of the Year last season. If Holliday also pulls off that feat (or hits the more difficult MVP finish within his first three years), Baltimore would get another pick. Had the Orioles waited beyond this week to promote Holliday, theyd have forfeited the chance at the PPI selection. Keeping him in Triple-A for another few days wouldve prevented him from reaching a full year of service through the traditional method, but a top prospect can also earn a full service year with a top-two finish in Rookie of the Year balloting regardle s of when he was promoted. If the Os called Holliday up in May, for instance, he could have played his way to a full service year through his ROY finish without netting the organization the extra pick. That played out in 2022, when Rutschman finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting despite being called up in late May. Theres an argument that the Orioles should simply have carried Holliday on the Opening Day roster. GM Mike Elias pointed to the youngsters limited experience at second base and facing left-handed pitching as reasons for starting him in Norfolk. A combination of Hollidays torrid start there and middling production from their MLB infielders led the front office to reverse course rather quickly. If Holliday is in the majors for good, hed first reach arbitration after the 2026 season. Hed be under team control through the 29 campaign. Any future a signments to the minor leagues could push that trajectory back, but the Os and their fans are surely hopeful that wont be nece sary now that Holliday is getting his first look at big league arms. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports. Frankie Montas Jersey