Orioles handed unexpected silver lining during Jackson Holliday absence

Jackson Holliday has not yet returned to his rehab assignment since dealing with intense hand pain while coming back from surgery. After Holliday took a step forward in his age-21 season last year, fans were excited to see how he would build on his progress, so the fact that there have been multiple setbacks in his recovery has been disappointing. However, Jeremiah Jackson's play in his stead has more than made up for what the Orioles are missing with Holliday being out.

Jackson kept up his hot start to the 2026 season with his second grand slam of the year in the Orioles 10-3 win over the Astros. He's currently second on the team in homers and has opened up a sizeable lead over Gunnar Henderson for the team lead in RBI despite consistently hitting at the bottom of the order. In that same game, he also made two separate lunging plays at second to rob base hits and pick off the lead runner.

Jeremiah Jackson has deserves a lot of credit for helping the Orioles tread water this season

Jackson is not a perfect player. His free-swinging approach and low OBP put a hard limit on his offensive potential, and in the second game of the double header, he had kind of a nightmare outing at second base, but on a team with so many prized former prospects struggling at the plate, Jackson has been hugely impactful and is a big reason the Orioles don't find themselves in the basement of the AL standings.

He's also the kind of player that fans naturally gravitate towards. He's a throwback high batting average/ low OBP infielder that can pop one over the fence once a week. Those kinds of guys used to be hit leadoff and make All-Star games. Jackson is not likely to do either of those things, but as a bottom-of-the-order change-of-pace hitter, he's proven he's worth having in the lineup.

Imagine it's late in a close game with runners on. Adley Rutschman and Taylor Ward have the best numbers this season, and Gunnar Henderson has a great track record, but it would be hard to begrudge anyone who felt like Jackson is the hitter they'd most want at the plate.

Holliday's setbacks have allowed Jackson to play nearly every day and have spared the Orioles from having to make a difficult decision about dividing up the infield playing time for now, but it will be interesting to see what they do when he returns. Jackson has far outperformed both Blaze Alexander and Coby Mayo at the plate this season and deserves to stay in the lineup until that's not the case.

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