Jackson Holliday’s slump should have Orioles fans wondering if he is a bust

Jackson Holliday slump sparking uncomfortable questions in Baltimore

Eric Cole

Baltimore Orioles v Philadelphia Phillies / Mitchell Leff/GettyImages

When it comes to Jackson Holliday, there are a number of polarizing opinions among Baltimore Orioles fans. Some think that he will become an All-Star with plus raw power, while others think he will be a decent lineup regular who gets on base regularly. Some think Holliday is under-appreciated and will die on that hill, while others think he has been overhyped from the beginning. Such is the life of a talent, if flawed, former first overall pick in the draft.

Holliday has certainly shown flashes of his potential during his time in the big leagues, and no one denies that he is talented. Where things get sticky is the debate over whether or not he will ever approach his potential or if he will even be able to solidify his spot as an everyday big leaguer.

Given Holliday's latest slump, we are starting to get enough data to think that there is a very real chance that we will look back on Holliday's career and consider him a bust.

Jackson Holliday's struggles are starting to become too much for Orioles fans to ignore

Again, if Holliday's slump was an exception rather than a rule, this would be an entirely different conversation. However, after his premature call-up to the majors last season resulted in prolonged struggles at the plate, it doesn't seem like Holliday is making the progress you would hope a guy with his pedigree would be making by now.

Over his last 27 games entering Wednesday, Holliday has just a .211/.263/.284 with just two homers and four extra-base hits total. In those 118 plate appearances, Holliday has walked just eight times versus 25 strikeouts. This isn't just some rotten batted ball luck over a few games; this is a lengthy approach problem without an easy solution.

A deeper look at Holliday's metrics only heightens the concerns here. Holliday's chase rate out of the zone is very good. However, he can't do anything against pitches in the zone as he is striking out too much, he doesn't have the bat speed (bottom 25% in baseball) to reliably handle velocity, and the quality of the contact he is making is mediocre at best. If you don't hit the ball hard, don't draw enough walks, don't provide much value on the bases or on defense...well, you get the idea.

Holliday has already tried swing changes to get back on track, and the results clearly are not there yet. He is still too young and too talented to give up on, and Baltimore is going to try everything to make it work. However, things are not going in the right direction right now.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.