5 top prospects who could get promoted next after Jackson Holliday

The Baltimore Orioles finally made the move fans have been waiting for and promoted the top prospect in MLB, Jackson Holliday, to the majors. There's little reason Holliday shouldn't have begun the year in the majors, so it's good to see Baltimore have him up now.

Holliday is expected to play second base every day for an Orioles team that looks scarier by the passing day.

Holliday is just one of many young prospects who will get the call this season. We might see more in the not-too-distant future, especially after the extra year of service time is guaranteed. Here are five high-end prospects who could be next in line after Holliday.

5) Guardians prospect Kyle Manzardo could get promoted after Jackson Holliday

An argument could've been made that Kyle Manzardo should've broken camp with the Cleveland Guardians instead of getting sent down to Triple-A. The Guardians entered the season with what looked like a subpar offense on paper, especially in the power department. Manzardo happens to be a power-hitting first baseman.

Even with their hot start to begin the season, the Guardians rank 29th in the majors, only ahead of the White Sox, with eight home runs in their first 11 games entering play on Wednesday. That's going to have to change if they want to seriously compete even with their division being as bad as it is.

Manzardo has gotten off to a bit of a slow start to his minor league season, which could delay his inevitable promotion, but he hit .381 with a .934 OPS in spring training and has proven more than enough in the minors to prove that he's MLB ready.

They might just be waiting to have his extra year of service guaranteed, but once that day passes, there's no excuse to keep Manzardo, a player more than capable of hitting at the MLB level right now and the No. 54 prospect according to MLB Pipeline's Top 100 list, down in the minors.

4) Blue Jays prospect Ricky Tiedemann could get promoted after Jackson Holliday

The Toronto Blue Jays don't only have one of the best rotations in MLB, but they happen to have one of the best pitching prospects as well in Ricky Tiedemann. The 21-year-old needs no introduction as he's been viewed as one of the best pitching prospects in the sport for a little while now, and he's finally nearing his MLB debut.

Tiedemann might've already made his MLB debut by now had it not been for injury woes he's had to deal with. He was limited to just 11 starts and 32 innings last season, and missed time in spring training this season when he seemed to have a legitimate shot at making the team.

Alek Manoah's injury and wildness has created a potential opening for Tiedemann to fill when the time is right. The southpaw hasn't looked great in either of his first two starts of his minor league season, but once he gets locked and loaded, the hard-thrower can find his way to contributing in a meaningful way in Toronto's rotation.

3) Nationals prospect James Wood could get promoted after Jackson Holliday

When thinking of a Washington Nationals prospect, Dylan Crews comes to mind first for many, and understandably so. Crews was selected with the No. 2 pick of the 2023 MLB Draft for a reason, and is going to be a star when he gets called up. With that being said, Crews isn't the only highly-touted prospect that the Nats have. James Wood is another star in the making.

The Nationals acquired Wood as part of the Juan Soto trade and have reaped the benefits ever since. Standing at 6-foot-7, he has the stature to hit mammoth home runs but also happens to be a tremendous athlete. He plays center field and has stolen as many as 20 bases in a minor league season.

An argument could be made that he should've made the team out of spring training as Wood tore the cover off the ball, but due to his documented strikeout issues (173 K's last season), it made sense to see him go down and try to tone those down.

Well, the sample size is small, but Wood has just five strikeouts and has drawn seven walks in seven games. With center field wide open in D.C., it wouldn't be shocking to see Wood take over if that trend continues.

2) Rays prospect Junior Caminero could get promoted after Jackson Holliday

This one might be cheating a bit as Junior Caminero made his MLB debut last season, but he began this season in the minors along with the other top prospects on this list and can be an early promotion candidate.

Caminero was promoted in late September and appeared in seven games for the Tampa Bay Rays as they prepared for the postseason. He had just eight hits in 34 at-bats, but there's every reason to believe that this guy is a future superstar.

Caminero might be just 20 years old now, but he had a .976 OPS and hit 31 home runs in just 117 games in the minors last season. He was off to a strong start again this season but is on the IL right now with a minor quad strain.

Once he's healthy, Caminero has little to prove in the minors. He can provide some much-needed power for a Rays team trying to win this season. With Wander Franco out, he can and should step right into the middle of the order and rake.

1) Pirates prospect Paul Skenes could get promoted after Jackson Holliday

The Pittsburgh Pirates have gotten off to a strong start this season, winning nine of their first 12 games and holding first place in the NL Central. How long they can play at this kind of level is to be determined, but vibes are as good as they've been in a long time in Pittsburgh mainly because of the young talent that they have.

We've seen Jared Jones make his MLB debut and look excellent in his first two MLB starts, and he's not even the best pitching prospect that the Pirates have. The Pirates have Paul Skenes, one of the best pitching prospects not only in MLB right now, but one of the best pitching prospects we've seen in a long time.

We only saw him briefly this spring, but the results were excellent. He's carried that success over to the minor leagues, as he's allowed just one hit in six innings pitched to go along with 11 strikeouts in his two starts.

There's a very good chance Skenes is already the best pitcher in this Pirates organization even with his limited professional baseball experience. His stuff is that good. It makes sense to give him a bit more time, but if the Pirates want to compete, they'd benefit from fielding their best 26 players. There's not a single argument that can be made to suggest that Skenes is not one of those 26. It'd be shocking if he wasn't up in the majors sometime soon.