Jackson Holliday Gets Honest About Injury Return Timeline

Baltimore Orioles star second baseman Jackson Holliday suffered a broken hamate bone at the beginning of spring training. He had surgery on February 12, and the question is now whether Holliday will be healthy enough to be on the field when Opening Day arrives on March 26.

While the Orioles would surely prefer that Holliday is in their lineup for the start of the season, they're going to play it safe when bringing him back. Especially because hamate bone surgeries can be tricky to recover from because of how it impacts grip strength.

The good news is that Holliday appears to be progressing from the injury. He conveyed as much when he said that he's "feeling really good. Got a pad on there and messing around with some new knobs, so feeling good," which was included in a March 7 article from Roch Kubatko.

Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

When speaking about what's to come in his recovery, Holliday added, “Honestly, I haven’t really asked because I’m just trying to stay present and try to work as hard as I can. I don’t really know the plan yet. But I mean, I would love to break camp or whatever that consists of, at least make it up there for Opening Day and at least be around, but I’m not 100 percent sure what the timeline is right now.”

Jackson Holliday Addresses Potential Injury Return Timeline

It appears that Holliday has some more clarity about whether he'll be able to play on Opening Day, which he discussed during a March 11 appearance on "Foul Territory".

When asked whether he's going to be ready for Opening Day, Holliday said, "I'm not 100% sure. It's coming up quick. Yeah, I think it will be most likely no. Obviously, my goal is to try to be ready and to be in a position to be ready. But the most important part is being healthy, and when I do roll back out there, it's 100% ready to go out there, and be the best second baseman I can be," per an X post from Foul Territory.

"So that's kind of the outlook that I have. Obviously, be ready as fast as possible, but making sure that I'm ready to roll," Holliday added.

Jackson Holliday says he "most likely" won't be ready for Opening Day.

"My goal is to try to be ready, but the most important part is being healthy." pic.twitter.com/M4Ps8t0Orn
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) March 11, 2026

Even if Holliday isn't ready by Opening Day, all signs point to him returning shortly into the 2026 season.

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