Baltimore Orioles Superstar Prospect Still No. 1 Despite MLB Flop

Despite a rough stretch during his Major League call up, the Baltimore Orioles superstar prospect is still ranked as the best in minor league baseball.

Apr 14, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles second base Jackson Holliday (7) | Reggie Hildred-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles have had three straight prospect ranked as the No. 1 player in minor league baseball. Two of those players have become stars in the MLB with Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson being the franchise cornerstones.

Many people were expecting their current top ranked prospect, Jackson Holliday, to do the same thing when he eventually got called up to the bigs.

As the son of former Major Leaguer and multi-time All-Star Matt Holliday, the 20-year-old has climbed through their pipeline rapidly and had an opportunity to make the Opening Day roster coming out of Spring Training.

That didn't come to fruition and the Orioles waited until around mid-April to give the youngster his first shot at the MLB.

However, things did not go as expected.

Holliday struggled immensely by going 2-34 with 18 strikeouts during his 10 games. He was promptly demoted back to Triple-A when it was clear he wasn't ready to face pitching at this level.

But, that didn't stop MLB Pipeline from keeping him as the No. 1 player in their updated rankings.

"Despite his initial struggles in the Majors and subsequent option to Triple-A Norfolk, Holliday remains in the top spot because this is a long-term ranking ... his history of performance at every other stop, plus the knowledge that the gap between Triple-A and the Majors is as wide as ever, gives us belief he’ll still be a plus-plus hitter in The Show eventually," writes Sam Dykstra.

While there might be a sour taste in the mouths of fans after watching Holliday get hyped up only to perform that way, the reality is there is a huge gap that needs to be figured out by every player who gets called up to the bigs.

Holliday can certainly reach his potential.

After getting demoted, he found his groove a bit and should be able to continue working on certain aspects of his game that was lacking during his first appearance in the MLB.