Orioles lineup projection: Jackson Holliday explains how he fits into Baltimore’s 2024 roster

CHARLOTTE — When Jackson Holliday steps into the batting cage for the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate, it doesn’t take years as a scout to understand why the baseball world has eagerly anticipated his arrival to the big leagues.

The crack of the bat pierces the classic rock music blaring over the speakers of Truist Field, empty for all but the players and coaches ahead of the Tides’ game against the Knights. The thud as the ball caroms off the padded outfield wall — and the occasional empty seat over the elevated walls — shows the prodigious power in his bat. That he doesn’t discriminate about which wall — left, right or center — shows off the advanced approach he takes to the plate.

The best prospect in baseball, Holliday shares his round of batting practice with other top prospects, including Coby Mayo, Connor Norby, Heston Kjerstad and Kyle Stowers. They all shared the fate of being assigned to the minors due to the over-abundance of talent for an Orioles team that was ahead of schedule in winning 101 games in 2023.

Through 10 games of the 2024 season, the Tides scored 102 runs. Charlotte and Durham tied for second with 57.

Norfolk features a loaded lineup of players who believe — and know — they’re big-league ready. But as Holliday told Sporting News, he and his fellow prospects needed to stay present and take everything day-by-day as they awaited that phone call.

“Just attacking that day head on and not looking too far to the future, and I feel like we do that pretty well as a group. And I know that’s something my dad [seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday] talks about is like, ‘You guys have five big-league hitters in your lineup, this is what happens if you put five big-league hitters in Triple-A,'” Holliday told SN. “It’s pretty cool. It’s really fun to be a part of and watch.”

Holliday’s wait ended Tuesday night. Two weeks into the season, sitting at 6-4, the Orioles have reportedly called up the consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball. With his call to the majors, Holliday will join a stout lineup that features one player drafted first overall like Holliday (catcher Adley Rutschman) or ranked first overall like Holliday (Gunnar Henderson). And that’s only the start.

MORE: Why the Orioles are calling up Holliday

With other standout bats — Cedric Mullins, Ryan Mountcastle, Colton Cowser, Jordan Westburg, Austin Hays and Anthony Santander, the Orioles boast one of the most loaded lineups in baseball. The scariest part? None of those players have reached 30, and only Hays, Mullins and Santander are above the age of 27.

“We have a young team and it’s a lot of fun to be part of,” Holliday said. “Guys that are similar ages, they get along and it’s really cool. I know me, Norby and Heston live together in spring training. Cowser, Gunnar, Adley, Mounty and Stow all lived together.

“So it’s a really tight-knit group and it’s easy to root for each other. And I think that’s something that’s really important for baseball. It’s very competitive environment and if you can root for your teammates, it can go a long way.”

Orioles lineup projection

1. Gunnar Henderson, SS
2. Adley Rutschman, C
3. Anthony Santander, RF
4. Ryan O’Hearn, DH
5. Ryan Mountcastle, 1B
6. Cedric Mullins, CF
7. Jordan Westburg, 3B
8. Colton Cowser, LF
9. Jackson Holliday, 2B

Brandon Hyde’s job is both enviable and unenviable. The good? He has a number of impressive young bats to place in the lineup. The bad? Figuring out exactly how to fit them in.

For Holliday, his job is going to be simple: Keep doing what he’s been doing. Holliday has been hitting the cover off the ball in Triple-A, which earned him the promotion to the majors.

Often when top prospects are called up, they are viewed as the focal point of the lineup. Elly De La Cruz hit cleanup in his MLB debut with the Reds. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit fifth for Toronto in 2019. Kris Bryant hit fourth for Chicago in 2015.

MORE: Elly De La Cruz makes history with 450-foot homer, inside-the-park homer

Baltimore has taken a more reserved approach with its rookies. Rutschman and Henderson each hit sixth in their respective debuts. Cowser and Westburg both hit seventh. Those four are all now lineup fixtures, along with the other more established bats.

Don’t be surprised to see even a player of Holliday’s considerable talent batting ninth, both because it will help him ease into the majors and because the lineup already has other standout hitters.

For his part, Holliday is keeping his goals simple for his arrival in Baltimore: Do what he can to help the team win. Achieve that, and the personal accolades will follow.

“I just want to be able to help the team win. Once you get to the big leagues, that’s the most important thing is winning. If you’re winning, you’re probably doing something right,” Holliday said. “So I’m going to go up there, I want to be able to help the team win no matter if that’s playing defense at second or short or being able to bounce around and being able to provide offense and getting on base and creating runs and just being able to play my role at a high level.

“Obviously I want to play in All-Star games and have a great career, but I think that starts with the winning mindset and going up there and trying to help the team win.”

Prospects can get starstruck when they reach the majors and have all the cameras on them. But Holliday has seen how players like Rutschman, Henderson and former top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez handled their promotions and rookie seasons, and knows the model to follow.

“The main thing that I noticed is just how they carry themselves. They’re confident, but yet humble and it’s really cool to see,” Holliday said. “Watching Gunnar and Adley and their routines and their at-bats and how focused they are from at-bat to at-bat, it’s really cool. Certain stuff that they work on in the cages, I try to emulate and bring into my routines. And it’s really cool to see what they’re doing and how well they’re doing their thing in the big leagues.”

Jackson Holliday dad

Holliday is the son of seven-time All-Star, 2011 World Series champion and 2007 National League batting champion Matt Holliday. Matt Holliday played 15 years in the majors, eight with St. Louis, six with the Rockies, a partial season with Oakland and another with the Yankees.

As the son of an MLB star, Jackson Holliday grew up around baseball and steeped in the locker room environment. That experience helped shape him into the player he is today.

“To grow up in a clubhouse and the dynamic of teammates in the locker room, I feel like I have a distinct advantage over a lot of people,” he told SN. “Being the youngest guy on the team and still able to have conversations and get to know people on a personal level is something that I feel like I’ve learned from being in the clubhouse.

“And obviously I get to see what it takes to be one of the best big-leaguers in the league also growing up. It’s definitely an advantage.”

Matt Holliday wound up playing in three World Series during his MLB career. He played for the Rockies in 2007 when they lost to the Red Sox, he brought a trophy back to St. Louis in 2011 with the Cardinals and played for another in 2013. He also played in two more National League Championship Series with St. Louis in 2012 and 2014 and an ALCS with the Yankees in 2017.

MORE: What A’s temporary relocation to Sacramento means for Las Vegas move, Giants’ Triple-A team

That stretch in St. Louis is what Jackson Holliday envisions can happen in Baltimore.

“I hope it’s like the Cardinals. Growing up, I got to go to a lot of playoff games and I think that’s what I see personally, is how the Cardinals were whenever my dad got there and have unbelievable players and people,” Holliday said. “That’s my hope for the Orioles is to be able to play in the playoffs every year and have chances to win World Series. That’s the only thing you can hope for, right, as a player — and that’s my goal.”

Jackson Holliday speaks with his dad almost every day about his swing, the pitcher he’s facing or other aspects of the game, he said. But, he acknowledged, there haven’t been as many deep conversations about his game as of late.

“Usually when I’m hitting as well as I have been lately, there’s not a whole lot of things to talk about when it comes to my swing,” Jackson Holliday said. “Hopefully we can keep it that way.”

Jackson Holliday stats

Holliday understood why he began the year in Triple-A, even if it wasn’t his preferred outcome. His rapid rise through the minors in 2023 began at Single-A Delmarva and ended in Norfolk. The overall numbers were impressive, even if his Triple-A stats at the time fell below his high standards.

He posted a .267/.396/.400 slash line with two homers, a steal, 16 walks and 17 strikeouts in 18 games. For most players, that would be an impressive stretch. Instead, Holliday felt he “didn’t play as well as I’d like to at the end of the year last year.”

Holliday’s spring training numbers in 2024 were certainly indicative of someone who is good enough to crack a big-league roster. He posted a .954 OPS with two homers and two steals, though he had just three walks to 18 strikeouts.

The Orioles decided it would be best for Holliday to begin the year in Triple-A, with general manager Mike Elias saying it was the team wanting to put players “in the best position for his own long-term success and for the short- and long-term success of the team and the roster that he’s on.”

“This is a 20-year-old that has played 18 games in Triple-A and is also in a position change and has not faced or had the opportunity to produce a ton against upper-level Minor League left-handed pitching in particular,” Elias said. “This is where we’ve landed for now.”

Holliday knew he needed to improve against left-handers. He also knew he would be going from shortstop, the position he has played an overwhelming majority of the time, to second base on a permanent basis. Those were the two boxes he had to check.

“I faced some really tough lefties at the beginning [of spring training] and kind of struggled a little bit,” Holliday said. “But obviously getting more comfortable, getting more at-bats, trying to have a little bit more of an edge vs. lefties, I feel like I have something to prove and I feel like I’ve done a good job.”

It didn’t take him long to improve his results. In his first 2024 Triple-A at-bat, he blasted a home run off Durham southpaw Mason Montgomery. Over 11 plate appearances against southpaws, Holliday has posted a .400/.363/.900 slash line with two doubles, a home run and no strikeouts.

As for defense, though he has a pair of errors from second, he has also made several impressive plays.

“It’s not too bad,” Holliday said of the position change. “Obviously there’s little things like where to be at during the cuts and relays and some double play stuff with feeds, but I feel like I’ve made some pretty good progress and learned a lot during spring training.”

Check. Check. 

Holliday has always boasted impressive plate discipline. He will leave the minors with exactly as many walks as strikeouts, a rare feat for such a young player. That tool can often be viewed as among the most essential for big-league success given how often prospects struggle with strikeouts against advanced pitching.

But even as Holliday ascended through the minors, the plate discipline has been a carrying trait.

“It’s definitely different each level you go up because guys get better and pitchers have better stuff and better command, and especially in Triple-A there’s guys that have been in the big leagues and bounced back and forth and certain stuff that they pick up on,” Holliday said. “I think that’s the main thing that I’ve learned is just how to control an at-bat and not give in early and early in the counts, picking the pitches that I want to go after and being able to take a walk.”

The term “five-tool player” gets thrown around often, but it’s true in his case. Holliday is a standout defender who will bring shortstop experience to second base with an arm more than strong enough to handle the keystone. A left-handed hitter, he controls at-bats and hammers pitches with authority, projecting as a future 20-plus homer hitter.

He’s also a quick runner on the bases, with 29 steals in 155 minor-league games. He compared himself to Corey Seager and Trea Turner, saying those are two players he admires and enjoys watching.

But more than anything else, Holliday sees himself as someone who “plays the game the right way.”

“Someone who has a pretty simple approach and puts the bat on the ball pretty consistently and I try to hit it on the barrel as much as possible,” Holliday said. “And I think good things seem to happen when you do that so I think that’s kinda the type of player that I am.”