Jackson Holliday swing change could be catalyst for 2025 breakout

Coming into the year there was about as much excitement surrounding star prospect Jackson Holliday as there's ever been. As the consensus number one prospect in baseball, Holliday had blasted his way through the Orioles' minor league system in the two years he was there.

Holliday started 2024 in Triple-A Norfolk despite fans clamoring for him to open the year with the big league club. We didn't have to wait long, as the O's made the call in early April, bringing Holliday up to Baltimore for his major league debut.

His first stint with the Orioles went poorly, as Holliday managed to collect just two hits in his first 36 plate appearances. He was striking out nearly 50% of the time and the Orioles decided that in the midst of what would be a tight division race all year, that Holliday could use some extra time at Triple-A.

When he returned at the end of July, things didn't get immediately better. He had some big moments and the plate discipline looked a bit better, but overall it wasn't as impressive as O's fans had hoped.

Could a swing change lead to a major breakout for Jackson Holliday?

Interestingly, Holliday made a last minute change at the end of the year that could serve as a catalyst for a major breakout in 2025. Throughout his career, Holliday had a big leg kick in his swing. In some cases, that can help a player add power but it has the ability to mess with a player's timing if they can't perfectly repeat the motion.

Toward the end of September, Holliday had begun reworking his swing to eliminate the leg kick, and instead work with a much more subtle toe-tap. It may not look like much but small changes like that can make a major difference in a player's output.

Holliday deployed the toe-tap in just two games this year, those being on September 28 and 29. In those two games, he went 4-5 with a double and three walks. Small sample size alert, obviously. But that's quite impressive from a guy who'd been striking out at a far too great a clip, and failing to generate much impact on contact.

Will this change lead to better results over the long term for Holliday? That much is unclear, for now. But the early results are encouraging enough to be excited about the new process heading into 2025.