The first four rounds of the Major League draft, along with compensatory and competitive balance picks, will be held Saturday in Philadelphia. The Orioles will be on the board for the first time when the No. 7 selection is due. They also have turns at 46, 82 and 110 before Sunday.

The Orioles haven’t made a selection this high since 2022, when Stillwater High School shortstop Jackson Holliday went first overall and became a second baseman.

Their draft board had been whittled to five players, including prep outfielder Druw Jones, prep infielder Termarr Johnson, IMG Academy outfielder Elijah Green and Cal Poly third baseman Brooks Lee. Confirmation on the choice didn’t come until Holliday’s name was announced. Various mocks had contradictory projections, including a late one that put Lee at the top.

“I would liken it to deciding what to order at a five-star restaurant,” Mike Elias said after the pick was announced.

Holliday waited with his parents, including his father Matt, the former major league outfielder, and younger brother Ethan, who became the fourth-overall selection by the Rockies last summer.

“The Rangers were third and I knew I wasn’t getting past the Rangers,” Holliday said. “I hadn’t really heard from the Orioles. I hadn’t heard from the Diamondbacks. I kind of just knew, honestly, about the Rangers. OK, well I know that worst-case scenario, this is probably where I end up.

“I remember sitting on the couch with my dad and he gets a call from Scott (Boras), and just kind of that whole process. He didn’t even tell me what was going on, so my reaction was pretty much real time. And my family’s. So I remember that being a real special moment with my parents and obviously my siblings and everyone there. It was a little chaotic of a day, but to be picked first and to the Orioles was very special.”

Elias praised the quality of the draft class that night and explained how the Orioles came to their decision, which later would yield the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball.

“We boiled it down to five players, we had advocates and rationale for taking any one of the five players, but ultimately you’re only allowed to come home with one of them, and we picked our favorite one,” Elias said.

“Without getting too behind the curtains with how the business of the draft works, this is always a final decision that is very, very late, but this is exactly how we hoped things would unfold, and I couldn’t be happier with it.”

CBS Sports had the Orioles selecting three different players in three mocks – Holliday, Jones, and most recently Johnson. Other sites did similar shuffling.

“We had arguments for any of these five guys, but this was a player that we were all happy with,” Elias said. “He was a ‘yes,’ so to speak, for anybody involved in this process, and ultimately he was our favorite choice, and this is the way we went tonight. And I think it’s going to bear out very well.

“I think he has a tremendous balance of floor and ceiling, which is why he was the first-overall pick, and that’s why these guys go this high most of the time, because they bring a blend of risk and reward. I think the upside for him is enormous. It’s a potential star playing shortstop, batting in the middle of the order, doing so for a very long time. In some regard, I don’t know that the ceiling gets much higher than somebody with that profile. But also, with the five tools that he brings to the table, with the defensive position that he plays, with the off-field work ethic we know is there, and the presence of both a power and hit tool, I think even if his development doesn’t go perfectly, there’s a lot of different productive pathways this will go down.”

The choice in the draft room wasn’t unanimous, but “it never is,” Elias said.

“I’ve never been the part of a draft room where you had 50 people up there, you’re just not going to get that. But this was a player that anyone involved deemed worthy of selecting.”

Elias, the team’s executive vice president and general manager at the time, described Holliday as a five-tool shortstop who was projected to remain at the position, but he moved to the right side of the infield.

“He does it all,” Elias said. “He throws, he’s a plus runner, he’s going to hit and hit for power, he’s got one of the best swings in the draft, and he’s got everything in front of him, and a tremendous family, and a support system that will work in concert with our people to get the most out of Jackson in his career.

“I think this is, obviously with the No. 1 overall pick, a major addition to what is already the top farm system in baseball, and what is now a young, talented major league team on the come. But I also think that he’s going to be a big addition to the culture that we’ve built and our players have built in the Orioles’ minor and major league systems together.”

Four years later, the Orioles are waiting for Holliday to really pop and become the star player that they envisioned. He was batting .224/.298/.359 in 249 games going into last night, but he also confronted unexpected challenges like learning a new position and breaking a hamate bone in February that stalled the progress made last season, when he appeared in 149 games and batted .242 with 21 doubles, three triples and 17 home runs.

Holliday was 20 years old when he debuted on April 10, 2024, after the team optioned him in camp and he appeared in only 10 games with Triple-A Norfolk. He was the youngest Oriole to debut since starter Dylan Bundy in 2012, but he went 2-for-34 and returned to the minors.

Asked yesterday to assess Holliday’s season, which included a .183 average and .647 OPS in 40 games, manager Craig Albernaz said, “He’s dealt with some adversity this year.”

It didn’t show last night, when Holliday singled three times and doubled for his first multi-hit game since May 29 and third career four-hit game. He snapped an 0-for-15 streak, and he’s batting .212 with a .700 OPS.

“Breaking your hamate before spring training, so you miss all of spring training, you miss the individual instruction with Miggy (Miguel Cairo) in the infield and Buck (Britton), and then you miss working with Dustin (Lind) and Brady (North) on the hitting side. And then, you’re not on your own, but you’re down at the complex rehabbing and you do a rehab assignment, and it was lengthy for him,” Albernaz said.

“He’s holding his own considering that he missed all of spring training and he’s pretty much doing his spring training on the fly. There’s been a lot of bright spots for Jackson. He’s doing a great job of navigating this season without the runway that a normal player has.”

Albernaz praised Holliday for his maturity under adverse circumstances.

“Being a young player, 22 now, but also, it doesn’t surprise me just because of his upbringing with his dad and his family and his brother,” Albernaz said. “He has a great head on his shoulders. He doesn’t get too low and he doesn’t get too high. He doesn’t live and die off the results or one bad at-bat. He moves on quickly and he takes pride in the team aspect, takes pride in his defense, takes pride in baserunning. So it’s been really cool to see him navigate this whole year without being on the best runway, and that’s what makes the future bright for Jackson.”

The Orioles are clear in their commitment to Holliday, and a scout from another organization said the Oklahoma native isn’t included in any trade discussions. Holliday and Lee are the only players among the five on the draft board to reach the majors.

The Twins used the eighth selection on Lee, who before last night appeared in 277 games over parts of three seasons and batted .238/.288/.381 with 34 doubles, four triples, 33 home runs and 140 RBIs.

Jones, the son of Hall of Famer Andruw Jones, was taken second overall by the Diamondbacks. He’s playing for Double-A Amarillo and has batted .258/.368/.364 with 53 doubles, 16 triples, 16 home runs, 157 RBIs and 74 stolen bases in 341 minor league games.

Jones suffered a left shoulder injury while taking his first batting practice with the organization and underwent surgery to repair the posterior labrum. He missed time in 2023 with quadriceps and hamstring injuries.

The Pirates took Johnson with the fourth pick and he reached Triple-A this season, batting .200/.337/.302 in 71 games with Indianapolis. In 442 minor league games, he’s slashed .242/.374/.383 with 60 doubles, six triples, 48 homers, 180 RBIs and 77 steals.

The Nationals were next on the clock and grabbed Green, the son of former NFL tight end Eric Green. He hasn’t gotten past High-A ball and was batting .217/.317/.361 in 356 minor league games. He struck out 206 times in 414 at-bats with Class A Fredericksburg in 2024.

“I keep track of those guys and see how they’re doing,” Holliday said.

The Orioles will be busy playing the Royals Saturday night, but the days and weeks leading into the draft always transport Holliday back to his parents’ house.

“Yeah, it’s always fun, especially last year with Ethan and everything that we had worked toward as young players and the draft,” he said. “I love watching the draft and everyone’s reactions. It’s always special to me.”