From Juan Soto to Jackson Holliday: O's should call up their teenager

2023-08-09 03:21

Jackson Holliday is the best prospect in baseball and his Double-A production could warrant a call up in 2023 for the teenager.The Baltimore Orioles have one of the best teams in the entire MLB and they only got better at the trade deadline. Along with that, they have the best prospect in the en...

Jackson Holliday is the best prospect in baseball and his Double-A production could warrant a call up in 2023 for the teenager.

The Baltimore Orioles have one of the best teams in the entire MLB and they only got better at the trade deadline. Along with that, they have the best prospect in the entire MLB, Jackson Holliday, tearing it up at Double-A. Let's compare a few blind resumes with the production that Holliday is having in Double-A this season.

Jackson Holliday, 19 years old

84 games played

.342/.464/.543 slash line

10 home runs

21 doubles

Player 1, 19 years old

39 games played

.362/.462/.757 slash line

14 home runs

10 doubles

Player 2, 19 years old

109 games played

.266/.352/.438 slash line

11 home runs

26 doubles

The Orioles should consider calling up the 19 year old Jackson Holliday this season

If you haven't figured it out by now, player 1 is Juan Soto and his production in the minors prior to being called up to the MLB as a teenager. Player 2 is Manny Machado and his production in the minors before the Orioles called him up to the MLB. Both of these players ended up making multiple All-Star Games and have completely exceeded expectations set on them as teenagers.

A lot of scouts and baseball minds prefer to keep the younger players in the minors for a while in order to let them develop and mature. But Jackson Holliday just may be an outlier in this scenario, much like Soto and Machado were when they received the call up.

As of today, the Orioles starting shortstop, Jorge Mateo is struggling. He's slashing just .213/.262/.345 on the year and is the clear weak link in the lineup. Baltimore may be in the perfect scenario to call Holliday up and give him his shot at the MLB as a 19-year-old, straight from Double-A.

Now, it may not be the most likely scenario, but it definitely should be a thought and should end up as a possibility. There aren't many young talents quite like the Orioles top prospect. He's shown the ability to hit for power and average as well as having plus speed. Holliday could be the spark that continues to propel Baltimore to an AL East title.