Baltimore Orioles player of the week: Happy Holliday

On April 10, 2024 Jackson Holliday, the top overall prospect in baseball, made his highly anticipated MLB debut. After flying through the minors, Holliday was getting his chance to prove himself at the highest level. He didn't have a hit in his first game but he did drive in a run and the excitement grew.

Unfortunately things did not get better and Holliday was sent back to the minors after two weeks with a .059 batting average. He spent the next three months in the minors, but Holliday put in the time and effort and we are all now reaping the benefits. Holliday was recalled and started at second base on July 31 against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Holliday made solid contact in his first two at-bats, which was a good sign after his strikeout issues during his first call-up, but both times he grounded out to the right side. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Holliday came to the plate with the bases loaded. The Orioles were clinging to a one run lead and Jordan Westburg had just been hit on the hand. He stayed in the game but left before going back onto defense.

With only one out, Holliday was looking to drive the ball to the outfield. Boy did he ever. Holliday walloped an 0-2 slider, sending it 439ft at 109.2mph. When it landed on Eutaw St, Holliday had his first career home run and the Orioles had an 8-3 lead. Those runs ended up being the difference in the game as the Birds won 10-4.

That grand slam was the start of something special as Holliday has suddenly become as hot as the summer itself. He has two hits, a run scored and an RBI in each of the last three games. Holliday has been a catalyst at the bottom of the Orioles lineup and helped Baltimore win the last two games of the four game series in Cleveland. He's scored a run in every game he's played since being recalled, a streak that actually extends to six straight games including his last game in Baltimore before being demoted.

For the week, Holliday went 7-18 with five runs, a double, two homers and seven RBI's. He raised his batting average by 124 points, his OBP by 135 points and his slugging by 249 points. This all comes too late in the season for Holliday to make a run at giving the Orioles a second straight rookie of the year like many people thought he might, but it's just in time to get the Birds offense back on track. And Colton Cowser might have something to say about that rookie of the year award.

Not only has Holliday's emergence gotten the offense going again, but it came at a time when they suddenly had a hole to fill in a usually overcrowded infield. With injuries to Westburg and Jorge Mateo that will cause them to both miss extended time and Connor Norby being traded to Miami, the Birds were suddenly thin at second base. The position appears to be Holliday's for the taking and he's grabbing it tighter than the stiches on a baseball. He's in a great position to help lead the O's down the home stretch and into the post season.