BOSTON – The Orioles couldn’t wait any longer.
An industry source has confirmed that infielder Jackson Holliday, baseball’s No.1 prospect, is joining the team in Boston.
The offense pounded out 13 hits in a 7-1 win this afternoon, awakening from its slumber, but Holliday is on his way to provide another jolt.
Holliday was an unpopular cut in spring training after batting .311/.354/.600 in 15 games, with three doubles, two triples and two home runs, including a grand slam. He also struck out 15 times and walked only three.
Reasons ran out to keep Holliday down. He doubled tonight against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre southpaw Edgar Barclay at 105.9 mph off the bat and is hitting .333 with a 1.077 OPS in 10 games. He’s walked 12 times and struck out eight. He also made a splendid sliding stop and throw tonight at second base.
Holliday’s first at-bat this season resulted in a left-on-left home run, as if he was making a statement.
Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias pointed to Holliday’s switch to second base and limited exposure to left-handed pitching as prime reasons for the reassignment to minor league camp.
Holliday turned 20 in December and played in only 22 Triple-A games, counting the playoffs. He climbed to four levels of the system. His time was coming but placed on hold.
Now, it’s arrived.
“He is way, way ahead of the curve,” Elias said on March 22. “He’s 20 years old, he just turned 20 a couple months ago. He’s reached Triple-A, he’s moved through the minors at a pace we haven’t seen in a couple of decades, arguably. And when we think about development and completing the development of a player of his talent, and it’s something we have some experience doing – we’ve done it now with Adley (Rutschman) and Gunnar (Henderson), and guys like Jordan Westburg – there’s a lot of considerations involved so that when they do start their major league careers, you want them to be able to stay. And guys of that marquee caliber, you want them to be able to start their careers in full-blown, full-time roles.
