Will Jackson Holliday Make The Opening Day Roster?

Jackson Holliday, the son of former 7x All-Star and 15-year veteran Matt Holliday, was the 1st Overall Pick in the 2022 MLB Draft. Going into the draft, the 1st pick was a toss-up between Holliday and the eventual 2nd Overall Pick Druw Jones, son of former 10x Gold Glove, 5x All-Star, and 17-year career veteran Andruw Jones. Ultimately, it seems the Orioles made the right choice; Holliday slashed a combined .323 BA, .941 OPS, 12 Home Runs, and 75 RBIs, all while being very impressive defensively. He made the jump from Single-A to Triple-A in his first year in the organization at just 20 years old. As the 2023 season progressed, Holliday (who was now the #1 prospect in Baseball), was showing great signs in the Minors, the Orioles were having their best season since 2016, finishing with 101 wins and winning the Division ahead of the Rays. Unfortunately for the Orioles, they were eliminated from the ALDS in the First Round without winning a game. Despite that, the future is very bright in Baltimore, with Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, and a plethora of talented prospects as well as experienced all-star players to round out a very good roster for years to come. Now adding the potential that Jackson Holliday has to a roster like this one makes the O’s way better than they are now; especially because Holliday plays Shortstop, a position that is very weak for Baltimore.

As it stands, the competition for the Shortstop position going into the upcoming season isn’t as strong as we think. Jorge Mateo is the main candidate that could be pencilled into that position, as he is coming off a season where he made 110 starts at the position in the previous season for the Orioles. He is a fast player with good fielding tools but can’t hit consistently. After a fantastic start to his 2023 season, during which he had a .347 Batting Average and a 1.062 OPS, he ended up with a terrible 70 OPS+ and didn’t help contribute to the 101-win team much after that month. Mateo can play multiple positions, as he has appeared in every position except for First Base, Catcher, and Pitcher in the past, giving him a lot of versatility to be a great bench piece for the club. Gunnar Henderson is the other player who played Shortstop for the Orioles, appearing in 83 games for them, but with him proving he has the potential to be a star in the league, he will be taking over the Third Base position full-time going into the 2024 season. With all that being said, Jackson Holliday doesn’t seem to have much competition standing in his way to making the opening-day roster.

Unfortunately, the biggest thing that might stop the Orioles from putting Holliday on the Opening Day Roster is service time. Although there hasn’t been anything pointing towards this possibility, it is still something that has happened in the past on several occasions. Service Time for prospects is an advantage General Managers try to take advantage of; by sending down prospects for a certain amount of time, the team gains an extra year of eligibility and team control. Thankfully, we have recently seen teams stray away from this, with examples of Julio Rodriguez, Spencer Torkelson, Corbin Carroll, and Anthony Volpe, all making their respective teams out of spring training and having an impact throughout the year. Going into the 2023 season, a new rule was made which gives teams a bonus pick after the first round if that player goes on to win Rookie of the Year or finish top-three in MVP voting or top-three in Cy Young voting at any point before reaching arbitration. Hopefully, this gives the Orioles enough reasons to put Holliday on the Opening Day Roster just as they did with Grayson Rodriguez last year.

With all that being said, if Jackson Holliday is the starting Shortstop on Opening Day for the Baltimore Orioles, we will have the privilege of watching one of the most electric lineups baseball has seen in a while. Hopefully, the kid is given a shot to contribute to this exciting young team for years to come and quickly cement himself with the young stars of the league.