Baltimore Orioles Need To Promote Superstar Prospect For Opening Day
Besides the speculation about if the Baltimore Orioles would be able to land an elite starting pitcher for their rotation this offseason, the other conversation that dominated headlines was whether or not they would promote their superstar prospect to the Opening Day roster.
Jackson Holliday is not only the top-rated player in their farm system, he's also the No. 1 overall prospect in all of baseball.
As the son of a former Major League multiple time All-Star, Holliday has all the tools in the world to become a potential star in the bigs.
This has caused him to rapidly ascend through the Orioles' pipeline, making it to Triple-A in his first year of professional baseball.
Still just 20 years old, the infielder has a chance to be another great young piece on Baltimore's roster.
The front office and coaching staff said it would be up to how he performs during Spring Training to see if Holliday was ready to make the leap to Major League Baseball.
While the numbers don't necessarily jump off the page, he's still slashing .286/.310/.607 over his 28 at-bats.
Holliday also hit his first home run of the exhibition period, which was a grand slam off five-year veteran and former All-Star Yusei Kikuchi. That brings his RBI total to five, putting him with the sixth most on the team.
It's time for the Orioles to hand second base over to their superstar prospect.
Sure, there will be a learning curve as he adjusts to competing in the big leagues, evident by his 11 strikeouts so far in nine games, but he's going to be part of this franchise for years to come.
Baltimore will be better off in the long run if they start having him adjust to life in the MLB early.
Holliday is a special talent for a reason.
He's dominated every level of baseball he's ever competed in.
The Orioles should give him that opportunity in 2024.
