Old Jackson Holliday comment proves just how ready he is for Orioles big-league return

When the Baltimore Orioles promoted Jackson Holliday to the majors for the first time in April it felt as if the rich had gotten richer. An already solid Orioles team just added the No. 1 overall prospect in all of baseball to the mix. Unfortunately, things didn't play out as expected.

Holliday struggled mightily, recording just two hits in 34 at-bats. He struck out in exactly half of his 26 plate appearances. He looked so overmatched to the point where Baltimore sent him back down to the minors after just 10 games.

It took Holliday a bit of time to heat up again in Triple-A after his disappointing MLB stint, but after he posted a .948 OPS in July, the Orioles finally opted to call him back up on Tuesday. He's set to bat eighth in Wednesday's game.

Now that he's getting a second shot, it's on Holliday to prove that he belongs at the MLB level. He certainly believes that he's ready for the challenge.

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Jackson Holliday is ready to show why he's the No. 1 overall prospect

Soon after being sent down, Holliday had this to say in a phone interview conducted with Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner:

“To be able to go up there and experience the 0-for, or 1-for-whatever, I don’t think there’s any bad takeaway from that,” Holliday said. “I think it’s all part of learning. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I think it can always be looked at as a good start to learning how to fail, because this game is the worst sometimes. To be able to go up there and fail at a high level, in the long run, I think will be very beneficial for me and my career.”

Holliday hadn't failed to the extent that he did in his brief MLB stint. He was drafted by Baltimore with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft out of high school. He then zoomed through the minors, making it all the way up to Triple-A in his first full season despite being a teenager. He then had a strong showing in Spring Training. Finally, after Holliday dominated in the minor leagues once more, the Orioles called him up.

Holliday experiencing that kind of failure really for the first time playing this game is something he thinks will benefit him long-term. He was able to bounce back from that failure and earn another call-up. Now, he thinks he knows how to deal with failure, which is going to happen at some point at the highest level.

Everyone fails at the MLB level. Even Hall of Famers. They're all Hall of Famers because they can bounce back from those failures. Holliday experiencing it and learning how to deal with it absolutely can help him in the long run and it wouldn't be shocking at all to see him thrive this time around.