Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday is unproven in the big leagues, but he's still one of the organization's most important players. The Orioles picked the Oklahoma native No. 1 overall in the 2022 MLB Draft and he was the sport's top prospect in 2024, per MLB Pipeline.
However, Holliday is slashing just .229/.300/.360 over 209 career big-league games, and he has yet to play at the top level this year due to offseason surgery on his hamate bone (right wrist). The 22-year-old might not return anytime soon, as he left his Triple-A rehab outing on Tuesday due to right hand discomfort, via MASN's Roch Kubatko.
Holliday was in pain after foul tipping a pitch in the bottom of the first, per The Baltimore Sun's Jacob Calvin Meyer.
Here's the swing that resulted in Jackson Holliday being removed from his rehab game in Triple-A Norfolk.Holliday foul tipped the pitch and appeared to be in noticeable pain afterward.The 22-year-old is recovering from hook of hamate removal surgery he had in February. pic.twitter.com/SU3StbhaMB
— Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) April 21, 2026
While Baltimore isn't depending on Holliday to be competitive, he could be the missing piece it needs to reach the mountaintop. That is, if the 5-foot-11, 200-pounder plays as he did in the minors when he was a prospect.
Holliday started his professional career slashing .297/.489/.422 over 20 games between Rookie League and A-ball in 2022 before slashing 323/.422/.499 with 12 homers and 75 RBIs over 135 games between A-ball, High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A in 2023. He was named the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year.
Holliday then slashed .271/.431/.477 with 10 homers and 38 RBIs over 73 Triple-A games in 2024, but slashed just .189/.255/.311 with five homers and 23 RBIs over 60 MLB games. He upgraded to .242/.314/.375 with 17 homers and 55 RBIs across 149 contests last season, but he still wasn't anywhere near the level that the Orioles need him to be at.
Although Baltimore has star players in first baseman Pete Alonso and shortstop Gunnar Henderson, Holliday showed elite potential in the minors. If he doesn't become an upper-echelon player over the next few years, it would be damaging to the organization given its level of investment in him.
On the bright side, Holliday still has plenty of time to get healthy and turn it around. He can't be fully evaluated until he strings multiple big-league seasons together at full strength.
After Tuesday's road game against the Kansas City Royals, the Orioles have one more game against them before returning home to face the Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros.