Orioles make Jackson Holliday call-up official, DFA guy who shouldn't have made team

On Tuesday night, the Baltimore Orioles dropped a bombshell when it was revealed that the team was going to go ahead and call up Jackson Holliday from the minor leagues. As to why the Orioles made him play in the minors for a week and do basically exactly what he did in spring training instead of just including Holliday on the Opening Day roster is anyone's guess.

Regardless, there appears to have been no harm, no foul here, as this allowed Holliday to get some reps away from the bright lights of Opening Day and solidify that he can indeed hit lefties and play second base. Holliday seemed to take the whole situation in stride. Plus, the Orioles went 6-4 without him, so it isn't like they left much on the table while he was down in the minors.

Still, the Orioles had to make the move official, and that meant someone was on their way out. Despite some concerns that Baltimore could option one of their young guys back to the minors, the Orioles made the right choice to designate Tony Kemp for assignment to make room for Holliday.

Jackson Holliday officially set to debut for Orioles, Tony Kemp designated for assignment

The Orioles adding Tony Kemp right before the season always felt pretty weird. Not only has Kemp not been good in literal years, but the Orioles have loads of position player prospects that are champing at the bit for playing time. Again, not a huge deal given that 10 games of Tony Kemp didn't really mess anything up, but he was easily the best choice to lose their roster spot.

Still, playing time early on is going to tell us a lot about some of the guys still left on the Orioles' active roster. Jordan Westburg has had some nice moments, but his 2024 season is not off to the best of starts overall. Holliday's promotion could also mean real changes for how Baltimore uses Jorge Mateo and Ramon Urías as well. It will be fascinating to see how this all plays out, but at least we finally get to see Orioles make those choices now instead of kicking the can down the road.

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