If you know anything about me when it comes to MLB, it is that prospects do very little for me. I do not care how good you were in high school, in college or overseas. Can you play at the big-league level? For as much hype that has been surrounding former Baltimore Orioles top prospect Jackson Holliday, will he hit above The Mendoza Line this season? Holliday slashed .189/.244/.311 last season.
And because he was a tremendous high school player from Stillwater, Oklahoma and the son of former MLB All-Star Matt Holliday, we continued to praise him like he should not have. Will Holliday ever live up to the hype? I certainly hope so. That being said, look at where Orioles skipper Brandon Hyde has Holliday pencilled into Baltimore's Opening Day lineup at the Toronto Blue Jays Thursday.
While I do not claim to know half of these players because I am an Atlanta Braves guy first and a National League guy second, seeing Holliday playing shortstop and batting ninth is a bit alarming. Baltimore drafted him as high as they did in the hopes that he would be hitting in the top half of the lineup to become their 21st century version of Cal Ripken Jr. or something. He has a ways to go now.
Hyde's first lineup of the season is not everything, but it is something when it comes to Holliday.
Player | Position |
|---|---|
Colton Cowser | LF |
Adley Rutschman | C |
Jordan Westburg | 2B |
Ryan O'Hearn | DH |
Tyler O'Neill | RF |
Ryan Mountcastle | 1B |
Cedric Mullins | CF |
Ramon Urias | 3B |
Jackson Holliday | SS |
I do not mean to hate on a 21-year-old kid, but he has to live up to the hype of being a No. 1 pick soon.
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Orioles lineup on Opening Day doesn't bode well for Jackson Holliday
As far as how I feel about the Orioles heading into this season, I think they will contend for the AL East crown and should be one of six playoff teams to come out of the American League. Anything short of that should be viewed as a great disappointment. Baltimore is at the point in its competitive life cycle where the hype of its former top prospects have to start producing at the big-league level every day.
What I am getting at is Baltimore is one of the handful of teams in the American League where if you picked them to win the AL pennant, I would not have a huge problem with that. I may like the New York Yankees more than them to do it, but Baltimore is in that group of 12 teams that actually matter across baseball. My biggest concern is it does not take very long to find oneself outside that dozen.
I look at the team Baltimore is playing on Opening Day in Toronto and wonder if the Orioles are the next great up-and-coming team to miss their championship window. We are dealing with that to some degree over in the National League with the Philadelphia Phillies. I thought we were due for a rematch of the 1983 Fall Classic back in August. Funny how things turn out... Baltimore really needs Holliday...
Not everyone is elite right out of the gate, but baseball is a game of opportunity, never of privilege.