It was a banner 2023 season for Baltimore Orioles prospect Jackson Holliday. He tore it up across four levels, won the Class AAA championship – and now is being named USA TODAY’s Minor League Player of the Year.
The No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft, Holliday hit .323 with 12 homers, 75 RBI and 24 steals as a 19-year-old, playing at Single-A Delmarva, high-A Aberdeen and Double-A Bowie before reaching Triple-A with Norfolk.
"It was kind of a whirlwind, to be honest with you," Holliday told MLB.com. “Shoot, Aberdeen and Delmarva don't even feel real. It's been pretty crazy, a lot of baseball, but I've enjoyed it. I've had a lot of really great teammates who made it easy."
The son of All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday, Jackson Holliday posted a .442 OBP, 113 runs and 154 hits in 125 games, playing shortstop and second base.
“If you were to sit there and not know that a number one prospect was on the field, before you left the game you would say, 'that’s the guy right there,' " Bowie manager Kyle Moore told USA TODAY Sports this summer.
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USA TODAY has been handing out the Minor League Player of the Year award annually since 1988, honoring that year's top minor league player as voted on by the staff's MLB writers and editors.
Of 14 winners since 2008, 12 have become All-Stars and that group has combined for three MVP awards, three Cy Young awards and five Rookie of the Year wins.
The big-league Orioles won 101 games and the American League East title in 2023, leaning on up-and-comers like Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson and second-year catcher Adley Rutschman, the No. 1 overall pick in 2019.
Holliday should be joining up at Camden Yards soon.
“I’m very blessed to be a part of such an amazing organization, especially right now with all this young talent," Holliday said.
Now 20, Holliday is expected to get an opportunity in spring training to play his way onto the major-league roster. General manager Mike Elias said at MLB's winter meetings that Holliday would have a "chance" to break camp with the Orioles.
“He’s going to be treated in this major league camp not like a prospect, where we’re kind of having fun and having him in camp for the experience of it, but like a guy trying to make the team,” Elias said.
Holliday had two homers and nine RBI in 18 games for Triple-A Norfolk and the Tides defeated the Oklahoma City Dodgers in the Triple-A championship game.
“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, but he had a historic first full season in the minors,” Elias said. “You’d probably have to go back to the 80s or 90s to find something similar to that in my opinion for an American kid out of high school.”
As the son of a batting champion and World Series winner, Holliday grew up in MLB clubhouses and his dad says his love for the game goes back to his days as a toddler. Holliday's younger brother Ethan, a third baseman, is considered one of the top prospects for the 2025 draft.
"The thing that (Jackson) has always done, since he was 2 or 3 years old, he's always loved to practice, he's always loved to be at the field," Matt Holliday told MLB.com. "From an early age, I knew he had a passion and love for baseball. I didn't know he'd be a prospect and get drafted first overall, but I always knew that this is what he wanted to do for his career and in his life."
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde echoed Elias about the possibility of Holliday forcing his way onto the roster in February and March.
“I’ve never seen a kid that young go that fast, have that much success this fast, especially at a high level like Triple-A at 19,” Hyde said. “The numbers he’s put up through his short minor league career, especially for his age, are really incredible. I think we’re going to give him every look — as much looks as possible — at spring training, give him every opportunity."
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