BRADENTON, Fla. – The much-anticipated and aggressively hyped rematch between Orioles shortstop Jackson Holliday and Pirates ace-to-be Paul Skenes lasted six pitches tonight. Holiday struck out with the count full and Skenes didn’t return for the second inning.

He’ll never be accused of wearing out his welcome. Just the batters who have to face him. And maybe a few catcher’s mitts.

Skenes’ fastball in the Orioles' 3-1 loss was clocked at 100.6, 101.7 and 101.1 mph during the at-bat. He began the game by striking out Enrique Bradfield Jr. on three pitches – at 100.6, 101.1 and 101.7 mph.

Last year’s first-overall draft pick out of LSU put his stamp on the inaugural “Spring Breakout,” retiring the side in order by breaking Connor Norby’s bat – it sure sounded like it, anyway - with a 96.6 mph sinker that produced a ground ball to third baseman Jack Brannigan.

Statcast identified the pitch that fanned Holliday as a 91.6 mph four-seam fastball. That’s wrong. Skenes hasn’t thrown a four-seamer in the low-90s since he was in preschool.

This time last year, the Orioles Jackson Holliday and Samuel Basallo – now the club’s top two rated prospects – were a couple of weeks away from reporting to Low-A Delmarva to start the 2023 season.

A year later both have continued to impress and progress as prospects and now they are two of the best in the sport. While Holliday is everyone’s No. 1 prospect, Basallo is ranked No. 10 by Baseball America, No. 17 by MLBPipeline.com and No. 27 by ESPN.com.

Two studs to help lead the best farm system in the sport and both could be in the lineup tonight at 7:05 p.m. when the O’s prospects play the Pittsburgh Pirates prospects in Bradenton in the Spring Breakout game that will be televised live by MLB Network.

Basallo played in his first spring game Monday and went 0-for-3 combined Monday and Tuesday. He has a stress fracture in his throwing elbow and is not ready to catch yet but can take at-bats in games as the DH.

If Holliday and Basallo are in the lineup together it will be the first time for that duo since they played for Delmarva late last April, before Holliday was moved to High-A Aberdeen. By the time Basallo later got to Aberdeen, Holliday had moved to Double-A Bowie and by the time Basallo played four games to end his 2023 season at Bowie, Holliday had moved to Triple-A Norfolk.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles are venturing into a unique part of the exhibition schedule today. Not a split-squad, which has been done twice already and is happening again Sunday and March 23. The first Spring Breakout game will be played tonight in Bradenton as the back end of a doubleheader against the Pirates.

Is it over-hyped. Oh God, yes. And the matchup between Jackson Holliday and Paul Skenes, the last two first-overall draft picks, already played out in Sarasota. We’ve seen it, much to the chagrin, I’m sure, of Major League Baseball.

Holliday grounded out on the second pitch thrown by Skenes, and the right-hander was done after the first inning. You blinked at your own risk.

Skenes is starting again tonight in this battle of top prospects, and Holliday probably is leading off again and expecting to play five innings. They probably will square off at least twice.

“I think any time you get to face somebody, it gives you a better idea of the second time you get to face them. So I’m excited about that,” Holliday said this week on a conference call. “It was awesome. It was a really cool experience to have so many No. 1 picks on the field. I don’t think that happens too often. It’s a really talented group down here in the Sarasota and Bradenton area, and it was a lot of fun.”

SARASOTA, Fla. – Cole Irvin didn’t bother to track the entire flight of the ball that Atlanta’s Orlando Arcia hit over the left field wall with a runner on base in the second inning. He turned to catcher James McCann and held out his glove. Bring on the next batter.

Irvin was a more engaged spectator on Jordan Luplow’s ball later in the inning that landed pretty much in the same spot. He thought that one had a chance to stay in play, and he showed just a smidge of frustration as he again spun toward the plate.

This wasn’t Irvin’s night.

The left-hander allowed six runs and seven hits in his first three innings, with three walks and three strikeouts. He threw 63 pitches, only 37 for strikes.

Brought back for the fourth, Irvin walked a batter in between a fly ball and popup and exited at 73 pitches, 41 for strikes.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Tyler Wells has done most of his work on back fields and away from media fixated on Grapefruit League games. His only start before today was March 1 in North Port, when he shut out the Braves for two innings and faced only six batters after a single and double play.

Twenty-three pitches, 17 strikes and 11 days until his next appearance.

Manager Brandon Hyde said earlier today that Wells remains in the starter competition and should be accumulating the rest of his innings on main stadium fields.

“Try to go four innings today, 60-ish pitches,” Hyde said. “We’re definitely building him up. … It’s important he gets these next few starts in.

“I think he’s thrown the ball really well this spring. Looks like he did in the first half this year.”

On Dec. 4, Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 prospect in baseball, turned 20. He was a teenager no more. The next day at the Winter Meetings in Nashville, O’s executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias let the world know the kid had a good chance to make the O's 2024 Opening Day roster.

"It's definitely a very strong possibility,” Elias said that day, getting reporters attention in stating it so strongly.

Fast forward to this spring camp and the kid that is 20 is starting to really swing it well in spring games. After getting two hits versus the Yankees in Tampa Monday afternoon, he is 10-for-31, batting .323/.344/.613/.957 with two doubles, two triples and a homer. He is 6-for-14 his last four games.

Manager Brandon Hyde said the stat sheet will be just a small part of the evaluation of Holliday. But the kid is handling everything well thus far, from opponent pitchers like the Phillies Zack Wheeler and Toronto’s Yusei Kikuchi, to every national reporter that wants his time to the fans that clamor for autograph.

He fits in well in a clubhouse where he is the young guy and the rookie and to me, he is looking like someone with a great chance to break north for the opener. Just like Elias said in December.

TAMPA, Fla. – While the Orioles continue to evaluate Julio Teheran as a possible rotation or bullpen piece, they’re about to find out how he handles spring training adversity.

It finally arrived today.

Teheran hadn’t allowed a run or hit in his first two appearances over three innings, but the Yankees scored four runs in the bottom of the first while working him for 27 pitches, and he was done after 2 1/3.

The pitch clock violation before his first offering to leadoff hitter DJ LeMahieu was a bad omen.

LeMahieu struck out on a slider, but Alex Verdugo singled, Anthony Rizzo walked, Giancarlo Stanton reached on a fielder’s choice – Rizzo was safe at second base – Trent Grisham walked to force in a run and Austin Wells drove a changeup into left-center field for a three-run double.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles third base coach Tony Mansolino carried his fungo bat to the left side of the cage yesterday and began spraying ground balls to infielders. He moved near the stands behind the plate and fired baseballs into the padding to get his arm loose, then threw his appointed round of batting practice.

Also the team’s infield instructor, Mansolino was separated from two of his prized pupils who made the trip to Dunedin for the other split-squad game against the Blue Jays. Jackson Holliday started at second base again and hit his first spring home run, a grand slam that disappeared over the right field fence and everything beyond it. Coby Mayo made his initial start at first base to put a temporary hold on his tutelage at the opposite corner.

Holliday has a quick bat and he’s a quick study.

If the Orioles were searching for an excuse to reassign him rather than take him to Baltimore for Opening Day, inexperience at second and the need for more reps in Triple-A would have sufficed, especially if he wasn’t performing to their high defensive standards.

An .050 average also might have done the trick, but Holliday is hitting .286 with a .917 OPS, two doubles, two triples and one monstrous homer. Only his 11 strikeouts against one walk in nine games could be held against him.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Corbin Burnes walked out of the dugout today before the top of the first inning and had no one behind him. Players stayed back as the club’s Opening Day starter approached the mound, as if honoring the staff ace. Or maybe they were just a little slower. But Burnes had the field to himself for a moment.

The song “Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks blared on the public address system. Burnes has them in high places, too.

Burnes was told this morning that he’d start March 28 against the Angels at Camden Yards, exactly as planned but now made official. Then, he worked 2 2/3 innings, was removed after 51 pitches - only 28 for strikes – returned for the fourth and finished with five runs and six hits allowed.

Not as planned.

More important is what Burnes does in the regular season, and he’s first to hold the baseball.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Playing second base isn’t dumping Jackson Holliday in unfamiliar territory. He’s been there and done it: 25 starts as a professional, 20 last year scattered among four affiliates.

This isn’t the Orioles experimenting with third baseman Billy Rowell in right field or catcher Javy López at first base, for our older readers. Many of them still traumatized by it.

Has baseball’s No. 1 prospect mastered the art of playing the right side, which he did again last night against the Tigers? No, but he keeps working at it and showing that he’s capable of making the necessary adjustments.

No one doubted it, of course, but still good to see.

“I think it’s been going good,” Holliday said Friday after completing his latest interview with a national baseball writer, his accessibility, maturity and politeness also rating highly in camp.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles’ No. 1 ranked farm system has been on display pretty much every day this spring training in Florida with young players and prospects excelling in the Birds’ Grapefruit League games - helping the club to an 11-2 record.

The O’s farm will have another chance to shine, this one on national television on March 14 at 7:05 p.m. when MLB Network televises their Spring Breakout game in Bradenton against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The first annual four-day event, from March 14-17 in Florida and Arizona, features teams playing each other in seven-inning games featuring each organization’s top prospects.

The O’s have a roster of 24 for that game featuring 16 of their top 30 prospects via MLBPipeline.com, seven of their top 10 and three that get top 100 recognition.

They are infielder Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 prospect in baseball, catcher Samuel Basallo ranked as the O’s No. 2 prospect and No. 17 in the MLBPipeline top 100 and infielder Coby Mayo, rated as the O’s No. 4 and No. 30 in the top 100.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles break camp in less than three weeks, proving again that spring training moves just as fast as the offseason.

Are we any closer to figuring out the 26-man roster? Not really. The club hasn’t made a particular move that serves as a spoiler.

We know that Sam Hilliard fell out of the outfield competition quickly, returning to the Rockies on a waiver claim. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias gave us more to think about by signing pitcher Julio Teheran and second baseman Kolten Wong to minor league contracts.

It’s an absolute possibility that the Orioles bring both players to Baltimore, Teheran perhaps in long relief and Wong as this year’s version of Adam Frazier – at least to begin the season. Frazier lasted through all of it rather than serve as a placeholder.

Jackson Holliday says, “Hold my non-alcoholic beverage.”

CLEARWATER, Fla. – For the Orioles it was another win today under the Florida sun. But this one might have more importance than some others. They saw their 20-year-old top prospect produce his best spring game while a 34-year-old pitcher fighting for a return to the majors fanned seven over three dominant, scoreless innings.

It was quite the day for the Orioles, who beat the Phillies 3-2 and improved to 10-2 atop the Grapefruit League.

The Orioles top farm system was on display big time at BayCare Ballpark.

Baseball’s No. 1 prospect, Jackson Holliday, had a breakout performance, going 3-for-4 which included a 104.4 mph double in the first inning off right-hander Zack Wheeler. Wheeler just yesterday signed a $126 million contract extension and since 2020 leads all MLB pitchers in fWAR at 19.3.

Leading off the game, Holliday drilled one deep to right-center off Wheeler for the two-bagger on a 2-2 cutter.

SARASOTA, Fla. – At age 20 Jackson Holliday, after just 145 minor league games and one full season on the farm, is trying to break north with the Orioles on the Opening Day roster.

He is under a spotlight in this camp at Ed Smith Stadium.

The kid has resources all around him, like a father in Matt Holliday who was a seven-time All-Star and World Series champion. What advice did the younger Holliday get on the home front before heading to Florida?

“Just take it easy. Try to enjoy it,” he says dad told him. “Whatever happens, happens, right? I think I’m in a really good spot, being 20 years old and in a position to make the team. Just enjoy it and have fun.

“And I have. These guys make it easy and fun in this locker room and enjoyable to come to the field every day.”

SARASOTA, Fla. – The fan excitement over spring training has spilled over to the mailbag, which also is spilling.

Time for some mailbag leftovers for breakfast, a mash-up for this side of the site.

Same editing rules – little to none – and same appreciation of your participation.

What did catcher Maverick Handley do to make the Orioles mad at him and not place him on the 40-man roster?
The Orioles didn’t protect anyone in the Rule 5 draft and got away unscathed. They like Handley. He’s in camp. But they rolled the dice that he’d remain in the organization.

What's the early consensus regarding Jackson Holliday? Has it changed from the previous proclamation that he may break camp?
Holliday isn’t promised a spot on the Opening Day roster. He’s competing for it. Nothing has changed. He may break camp.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The time has come to march into a new month with a spring training mailbag.

(March. You see what I did there.)

This is the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original. So many have been published that there’s no reason to go over the format, rules and disdain for tinkering with style, clarity, length, brevity or anything else.

Also, and this is real important, my mailbag relaxes underneath an umbrella at the Siesta Key beach and your mailbag sells warm beers in a brown paper bag. (I may have bought one.)

In the little bit I've read about Corbin Burnes, it seems like he does things a certain way - his way. Based upon his success it seems to be working, but does this come across as leadership or a bit pompous?
I haven’t heard a single harsh word about Burnes from anyone. Quite the opposite. Teammates have the upmost respect for him, including how he goes about his work and prepares for the season. Guys with his experience and resume know how to get ready for Opening Day. They don’t need a helicopter parent.

SARASOTA, Fla. - When Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2023 MLB Draft, faced the Orioles' Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 overall pick in 2022, on Thursday in Sarasota, it was a nice appetizer for a game coming later this month. 

Skenes, the LSU product, retired Holliday on the second pitch of the at-bat. He touched 102 mph during his scoreless inning versus the Orioles on Thursday. He threw 100 against Holliday.

On March 14 in Bradenton, the top O’s prospects will play the top Pirates prospects as part of a new series of games this year called “Spring Breakout.” Each club will have at least one game where it can send out its top prospects to play those from another club. That night we could see Skenes-Holliday part two.

The O’s-Pirates game that night will be the second part of a doubleheader at Bradenton’s LECOM Park that will begin with the regular Grapefruit League game between the O's and Pirates at 3:05 p.m. The prospects-only game will follow at 7:05 p.m., and that game will be televised live on MLB Network.

The roster reveal will be a live TV event, too, and that is happening March 7 at 11 a.m. on MLB Network.

NORTH PORT, Fla. – Tyler Wells didn’t know his set pitch count today before stepping on the mound for his first spring start. Two innings seemed to be one of the main goals, along with pounding the strike zone and getting out of it healthy.

The day was a success in both regards, with Wells tossing two scoreless innings against the Braves at CoolToday Park.

Wells faced the minimum number of batters after Luis Liberato, a late substitution for Ronald Acuña Jr., singled into center field. Jarred Kelenic grounded into a 3-6-3 double play and Austin Riley grounded out, and Wells coaxed three fly balls to right fielder Anthony Santander in the second.

The right-hander threw 23 pitches, 17 for strikes.

“I think that it’s a good way to start off spring training and kind of set pace for the year,” he said.

The Orioles got some national attention this week when MLB Network aired its “30 clubs in 15 days preview” on the Orioles on Thursday afternoon. 

If you missed it, the analysts are high on the 2024 Orioles with former player Cliff Floyd projecting another 100-win year.

Yes, expectations are very high for a club that was 47-115 in the 2018 season and won just 54 games in 2019 and 52 in 2021. That was before the big leap to 83 victories in 2022 and last year to 101 which included a return to the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and an AL East title for the first time since 2014.

Players that once were expected to be on a team predicted for last place, now have very different expectations. How will they handle that?

“You know our guys are not fazed by anything,” manager Brandon Hyde told MLB Network. “We have taken such strides the last couple of years. Last year is something we are really proud of, winning the AL East with this group.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles leadoff hitter Jackson Holliday swung at the second pitch from Paul Skenes today and grounded to second baseman Nick Gonzales.

The first-overall pick in the 2022 draft retired by the first-overall pick in the 2023 draft, with the assist going to the seventh-overall selection in 2020.

And after catcher Henry Davis, the top selection in 2021, hit a three-run homer against Corbin Burnes in the top of the first.

This was not your typical spring training game.

Skenes’ fastball topped out at 102 mph in his exhibition debut and he hit 100 mph against Holliday, who lost the only matchup between them. Skenes wasn’t returning for the second inning.