4 October 2023
The accolades keep coming in for Jackson Holliday. This one is far from a surprise.
Holliday, the No. 1 prospect in baseball, was named the Orioles’ Brooks Robinson Minor League Player of the Year, the club announced Saturday.
In his first full professional season, the 19-year-old shortstop became the sport’s best prospect, rose from Low-A Delmarva to Triple-A Norfolk in historic fashion, played in the MLB All-Star Futures Game and was named Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year.
Now, he’s got his sights set on Baltimore.
“That’s the goal,” Holliday said when asked if he believes he can make the Orioles’ 2024 opening day roster. “If that doesn’t happen, then whatever is the plan, I’ll be ready for it. Hopefully that’s the goal. We’ll see, though.”
Holliday said it’s “an honor” to win an award named after Robinson, the legendary third baseman who died earlier this week.
“He had quite an unbelievable career,” Holliday said. “If I have half the career he had, it would be a success. It’s unbelievable to look back on all the things that he accomplished, and to be able to share that award with him is quite an honor.”
Also a part of the Orioles’ 2023 minor league award winners, the club named right-hander Chayce McDermott the Jim Palmer Minor League Pitcher of the Year, Norfolk manager Buck Britton as the winner of the Cal Ripken Sr. Player Development Award and Dave Jennings the Jim Russo Scout of the Year.
The 2022 No. 1 overall pick hit .323 with an impressive .941 OPS between the four levels. He tallied 30 doubles, nine triples, 12 homers, 75 RBIs, 24 stolen bases and 101 walks against 118 strikeouts.
He followed in the footsteps of Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson as Baseball America’s No. 1 overall prospects. Those two young stars helped lead the Orioles to an American League East title and the club’s best regular season in 40 years. Holliday could join them at just 20 years old in 2024.
“It’s kind of been incredible how he’s progressed this season, even from spring training to the player that he is now,” Triple-A manager Buck Britton said. “To be 19 years old, one year removed from high school, to be playing up against some of the best talent in all of minor league baseball — and being able to not only play, but compete — this is a kid who’s going to be an impact big leaguer for a long time — for a long time.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing him continue to grow. The skill set jumps off the charts, the makeup, what a kid. And this kid’s determined, man. He’s determined to be in the big leagues yesterday.”
Holliday spent the first month of spring training with the Orioles — an experience he said was “unbelievable” and set him up for the success he had this year. He went into the year with the goal of reaching Double-A, an ascent that would have been impressive enough.
He hit .396 with a 1.183 OPS in 14 games in Low-A to earn his promotion to High-A in late April. Aberdeen is a spot many Orioles prospects have struggled given the jump from Low- to High-A is perhaps the most difficult in the minors. But, as he has with everything else this season, Holliday handled the new assignment gracefully, hitting .314 with a .940 OPS in 57 games — the most he played at any level this season — to earn his Double-A promotion in July.
He started off his 36-game stint with the Baysox hot, but he went through a brief slump in August. Once he broke out of it, the organization viewed him as ready for a trip to the final minor league destination after he posted a .338 average and .507 slugging percentage in Double-A. In 18 games to end the season, Holliday hit .267 with a .796 OPS with the Tides.
“This year’s gone about as well as I can possibly imagine,” he said. “My goal was Double-A, and to be able to make it to Triple-A is quite something. I don’t know. It’s been quite a year, and I’m very happy with how everything went down.”
When he made it to Triple-A, he joined an exclusive list of teenagers to do so. Before they became stars in the big leagues, Bryce Harper, Ronald Acuña Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ozzie Albies were among a shortlist of prospects since 2006 to play at least a week’s worth of games by their age-19 season.
“I think the thing that impressed me the most is his composure,” said Tyler Wells, an Orioles pitcher who was in Norfolk for most of Holliday’s time with the Tides. “I think that he doesn’t ever get too high or get too low. For being 19 years old, I definitely think that he carries himself well. I think a lot of that probably comes from his dad. I think that meeting his dad and kind of understanding a little bit of how he is, you can see a lot of that in Jackson. I think Jackson’s just really good at keeping a level head.”
When he reached Double-A, he said he “wouldn’t put it past myself” to reach the major leagues in 2023. That confidence he displayed in mid-July showed again Saturday when he said “not one time this year” did he feel overwhelmed.
“Everywhere that I’ve gone I felt really comfortable, like I belong there,” he said.
Holliday, of course, wasn’t the only prospect to have a standout season. He headlines what Baseball America ranks as the top farm system in the sport, but pitchers like McDermott, whose stock has risen this year, are a major reason why the Orioles could be set up for more seasons like 2023.
Ranked as the club’s third-best pitching prospect at No. 13 in the Orioles’ system, according to Baseball America, McDermott is one of several up-and-coming arms Baltimore received at last year’s trade deadline. In addition to getting All-Star Yennier Cano and prospect Cade Povich in the Jorge López trade with the Minnesota Twins, the Orioles acquired McDermott and Seth Johnson in the Trey Mancini deal.
“I think people overlook sometimes that getting traded is very hard,” McDermott said. “You get used to an organization, and you have to pick up and move and meet new people, new coaches, all that kind of stuff. I feel like it was a super smooth transition, it was super easy, loved everyone in the Orioles organization and they’ve been super helpful to my career.
“Now it just feels like I’m part of the family.”
McDermott, 25, opened the year with Double-A Bowie, pitching well with a 3.56 ERA. But he soared once he was promoted to Norfolk, pitching perhaps the best he has in his professional career. The 6-foot-3 right-hander posted a 2.49 ERA in 50 2/3 frames with the Tides, allowing just a .156 batting average against and 4.8 hits per nine innings.
Like Holliday, McDermott hopes his 2024 will include a spot on Baltimore’s roster.
“Next year the goal is to be in the big leagues, for sure,” he said, adding he believes he’s not “that far” away from achieving that.
McDermott, Holliday, Britton and Jennings were recognized at Camden Yards before Saturday’s game against the Boston Red Sox, although the two prospects and Norfolk’s skipper weren’t in attendance because they were in Las Vegas for the Triple-A Championship Game.
The Tides, bolstered by a roster that includes nine of the Orioles’ top 14 prospects, won the winner-take-all game, 7-6, over Oklahoma City, a Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate. Colton Cowser, ranked No. 11 on Baseball America’s top 100 prospects list, clobbered a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh, and Connor Norby, the Orioles’ 11th-best prospect, hit a two-run shot in the ninth.
Also this week, three players in addition to Holliday were recognized by Baseball America for their stellar seasons. With Holliday as the publication’s first-team shortstop, Double-A Bowie catcher Samuel Basallo, who excelled in his age-18 season, and Baltimore outfielder Heston Kjerstad made the list. Third baseman Coby Mayo, whose .974 OPS led the Orioles’ farm system, was a second-team selection.
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