Baseball is in the blood of Jackson Holliday.
His father was a major leaguer, and he spent a portion of his life in big league clubhouses.
That pedigree helped Holliday as a player, and the Orioles selected the 6-foot-1, 175-pound shortstop with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft out of Stillwater High School in Oklahoma.
“It’s been a little bit since I’ve been able to compete on the baseball field, so very excited to get down to Florida and get going,” Holliday said during his introductory press conference July 27. “This is what I have wanted to do for as long as I can remember. It’s a blessing to be where I’m sitting right now.”
Holliday, 18, batted a startling .685/.749/1.392 with 29 doubles, six triples, 17 homers and 79 RBIs in 41 high school games this past spring. He also had 89 hits, which set a national high school record.
Holliday was selected as the Gatorade Oklahoma Baseball Player of the Year and Baseball America’s High School Player of the Year. He was named the top player in Oklahoma by Perfect Game.
His father Matt played 15 seasons in the big leagues for the Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees. He was a seven-time All-Star and won a World Series with the Cardinals in 2011. Matt appreciates the journey his son took to get to this point.
“I’m thrilled for him, I’m super happy for him,” Matt said. “This has been his dream since he was a little boy, to be drafted and hopefully play in the major leagues. I’m really proud of him. He’s a great kid, first and foremost. The most important thing is his character and he’s a really good kid. We’re proud of him. This is his career and we’re excited for him.”
The Orioles reportedly signed Jackson Holliday to an $8.19 million bonus, a record for a high school selection.
“It comes with some pressure,” Holliday said about the bonus. “But luckily enough, I’ve got a foundation in my family and I’m just going to handle it like I have everything. Play hard and work out and try to be the best player that I can be.”
Holliday says he is going to stay with the fundamentals that have made him successful. He also expects to be on the fast track to join the major league club.
“I want to be up here [in the big leagues] as fast as possible,” he said. “So, I would love to come out hot and continue to play well. So hopefully two years or less would be my goal. That’s a big goal, but I think I can do it.”
Holliday reported to the Orioles’ Florida Complex League team in Sarasota, Fla., after signing his contract. He was promoted to Low-A Delmarva on Aug. 24.
Holliday has excelled at putting the barrel on the ball and he consistently makes hard contact. And he should only get better as he gets bigger and stronger with age. He already has a solid baseball IQ because of his pedigree.
Orioles GM Mike Elias is thrilled to have Holliday in the system and learn the new “Oriole Way.” Holliday joins one of the top farm systems in baseball and will get to play with top talent every day. Elias is confident that Holliday will be adaptable despite his young age.
“My assessment is that he will be equipped to [handle] those challenges productively in his development path. I think the baseball draft has a lot of randomness to it,” Elias said. “It’s very rare for the first pick taken to end up being the very best player in the whole draft. And that’s not the expectation or even the need when you’re picking No. 1.
“We just kind of want to make the best investment at that moment that we can possibly make, take the right player for us — which is fine if that’s the fit. And hopefully have a really solid, healthy, productive career and help us win playoff games in Baltimore.”
As for Holliday’s father, the success is really not much of a surprise. Matt saw how his son fell in love with the game at a young age. It didn’t hurt that he was able to hang around major league clubhouses and watch how big leaguers go about their business.
Now, the time has come for Jackson Holliday to make his mark.
His father is confident that he is ready for the challenge.
“I think that he’s always just kind of loved to play baseball, didn’t really let the outside things bother him,” Matt said. “… He plays the game hard, he’s not flashy, he doesn’t showboat. I think people appreciate his humility. I don’t think it’s been that hard for him to navigate that.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles
Issue 276: August/September 2022
Updated Aug. 25, 2022