This Jackson Holliday flaw could prevent young Orioles star from a 2026 rebound

The Baltimore Orioles' roster has undergone quite the face-lift this offseason on both sides of the ball. While the Orioles are clearly not done, the lineup, bullpen, and rotation have all seen significant additions/upgrades heading into 2026 and, on paper, Baltimore looks like a very dangerous team. However, all of that effort may be for nothing if the Orioles' core doesn't show up and that concern starts with Jackson Holliday.

No one argues that Holliday isn't talented. You don't get picked first overall in the 2022 MLB Draft without talent and Holliday laid waste to the minors to start his career. However, for all that talent, Holliday's performance in the majors has people not only wondering about his position in the lineup, but also whether or not he will ever be the impact bat the Orioles need him to be.

Upon a closer look at Holliday's profile, it becomes clear that his bat speed (or lack thereof) could be a long-term problem that may limit Holliday's ceiling at the plate.

Orioles may have a bat speed problem when it comes to Jackson Holliday

Now, having subpar bat speed is not a death sentence for a hitter. Jacob Wilson and Caleb Durbin both got Rookie of the Year votes last year with bottom of the scale bat speeds and Geraldo Perdomo had an insane season for Arizona despite bottom 7% bat speed in all of baseball. If you have good contact skills and pitch recognition, guys can make it work.

However, Holliday's profile doesn't provide much in the way of confidence that he can make his current bat speed work at a high level. His borderline elite chase rate is a good start, but the whiff and strikeout rates are less promising. When you looking Holliday's numbers against fastballs specifically the last couple of years where bat speed can have the biggest impact, one sees a guy that struggles to do consistent damage against the hard stuff. If you are hitting .231 against heaters, you probably aren't going to make it in the majors.

Now, Holliday can make swing changes that could give his bat speed a boost and/or shorten his bat path to help. He could also just get better at pitch recognition which would allow for better swing decisions to improve his performance against fastballs. Something is going to have to change because a couple seasons in, it feels as though Holliday's below average bat speed may prevent the breakout that Orioles fans are desperately hoping for.