He just turned 19 in December and in 33 career pro baseball games, shortstop Jackson Holliday is batting .339/.503/.530/.1.033 with 11 doubles, a triple, three homers and 24 RBIs. There have been few, really no struggles, for Holliday yet on the Orioles' watch.
But if he doesn’t tear it up initially as he now moves up from Low Single-A Delmarva to High-A Aberdeen, he will be keeping good company. Gunnar Henderson started 1-for-31 his first 11 games at Aberdeen in the 2021 season and last season Heston Kjerstad hit .233 with an OPS of .674 at Aberdeen in 43 games.
Those stats for both were modest but it didn't keep them from advancing in their careers.
Now the player that the O’s drafted No. 1 overall last summer, a player ranked as baseball’s No. 10 prospect by MLBPipeline.com and No. 13 by Baseball America, will play his first IronBirds game tonight when Aberdeen plays at Wilmington. His home debut is to come May 9 at Ripken Stadium.
On my WBAL Radio O’s postgame show last night, Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias joined me to talk about Holliday’s promotion.