Baltimore Orioles' Farmhand Wins Prestigious Honor as Season Concludes

Baltimore Orioles prospect and No. 1 overall prospect Jackson Holliday was named the Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America on Monday.

While the Baltimore Orioles try to officially win the American League East at the major league level, they have gotten awesome news out of their minor league levels as top prospect Jackson Holliday was named the Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America.

Per JJ Cooper of Baseball America:

Previous BA MiLB POY include: 

Angels OF Mike Trout 

Yankees SS Derek Jeter 

White Sox 1B Frank Thomas 

Braves OF Andruw Jones 

Braves OF Ronald Acuña 

Twins C Joe Mauer 

Indians OF Manny Ramirez

Previous BA MiLB POY include:

Angels OF Mike Trout
Yankees SS Derek Jeter
White Sox 1B Frank Thomas
Braves OF Andruw Jones
Braves OF Ronald Acuña
Twins C Joe Mauer
Indians OF Manny Ramirezhttps://t.co/9eYZrVeFJq

— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) September 25, 2023

Holliday, the son of former big leaguer Matt Holliday, is the No. 1 prospect in the game, per MLB.com.

He was the No. 1 overall pick in the draft in 2022.

Per his MLB.com prospect profile:

The combination of nature and nurture certainly come into play, with growing up around the game clearly helping Holliday’s overall skillset. He has an extremely advanced approach at the plate, and he showed it off by walking more than twice as much as he struck out during his debut last summer. He has a simple left-handed stroke he got back to after his swing got a little long last summer, allowing him make more hard contact than ever, with plenty of power coming organically from his swing.

With strength he added before his senior year, and with more to come, Holliday has also gotten faster and is a consistently plus runner. There’s an up arrow next to his arm strength as well and that, along with his improved quickness, means he should be able to play shortstop for a long time.

His father, Matt, played 15 years in the big leagues with the Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland Athletics, and New York Yankees. He spent part of eight years in St. Louis, six with Colorado, one with New York and part of one with Oakland. He was a seven-time All-Star selection, received MVP votes in eight different seasons and finished fifth in the 2004 National League Rookie of the Year voting.

Holliday hit .323 across four minor league levels this season. He posted 12 homers, 75 RBI and stole 24 bases as well.

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