Top Orioles Prospect Gets Day Off After Rough Start To His Career
The Baltimore Orioles decided to call up their best prospect, Jackson Holliday, this week.
He definitely earned his callup with a brilliant .333/.482/.595 line and two home runs in 10 games, not to mention more walks than strikeouts.
However, he finds himself out of the lineup after three games with the O’s.
“Jackson Holliday getting day off against former O’s lefty DL Hall,” Baltimore reporter Peter Schmuck tweeted.
Jackson Holliday getting day off against former O’s lefty DL Hall.
— Peter Schmuck (@SchmuckStop) April 13, 2024
The reason? Well, there are mainly two: one, the O’s are sitting him against a left-handed pitcher in order to get someone with more experience hitting MLB southpaws in the lineup.
And two, the kid is struggling and could use a mental break, even if it’s just three games.
The O’s are good and deep enough to let him rest and reboot for a day.
So far in his MLB career, Holliday is 0-for-11 with seven strikeouts.
This is a kid who still hasn’t struggled at any level to this date: he has breezed through every minor league level there is in the last couple of years since he was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2022.
In any case, it might be just a bad stretch but since expectations surrounding Holliday are getting out of control, his struggles have been magnified.
He should be fine going forward, and should be able to show the talent that made him a high draft pick and the best prospect in baseball at some point.
Giving him a day to clear his head after a furious last 72 hours is probably the right move by manager Brandon Hyde.
Baltimore Orioles GM Hints at Returning Timeline of Former All-Star Pitcher
The Baltimore Orioles could see the return of 4 former All-Star pitchers as soon as……
The Baltimore Orioles added to their pitching rotation this year, giving them an exciting group of arms. Injuries had other plans, though, as their group has not been fully healthy yet.
Mike Elias, general manger of the Orioles, spoke on the return of a former All-Star pitcher.
John Means has pitched in just six games over the last two seasons because he had to undergo Tommy John surgery in 2022 which kept him out until September 2023. He could be making his return to the MLB soon, though.
“I don’t want to paint myself in with a date or something like that. Suffice to say we’re looking at a spring time activation with him hopefully. This month or next is how things are trending,” Elias said according to Steve Melewski of MASN.
The expected return for Means will be late April or early May.
He’s joined on the injured list by Kyle Bradish, both starting pitchers who are currently completing rehab work. Despite missing those two players, they have had one of the best rotations in the league.
Baltimore’s pitching staff as a whole is currently ranked seventh in the league entering Saturday with a 3.48 combined ERA. They are also a Top-10 staff when in comes to strikeouts and hits allowed.
Means’ last full season came in 2021 where he had a very solid 3.62 ERA. His last full year before that was in 2019, when he was named to the All-Star team. The big part of his game that helps him is the fact he just doesn’t really walk batters that often. The Orioles are already a team that has walked the fewest batters this season, another feather in their cap.
After trading for Corbin Burnes and having the pitching staff perform at a high level while not healthy, Baltimore should be very excited about what the season could look like in a few weeks when they get some of their top arms back.
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