Jackson Holliday is among the non-roster players who received an invitation to big league Spring Training with the Orioles. There was never any doubt the sport’s top prospect would be in MLB camp as he tries to lock down a spot on the Opening Day roster. Baltimore will take advantage of exhibition play to get the 2022 #1 pick experience at both middle infield spots.
General manager Mike Elias told 105.7 The Fan (X link) on Tuesday that the O’s will get Holliday “a lot” of work at second base in camp. The 20-year-old has started 25 games at the keystone in his minor league career. Holliday has made 110 starts at his primary shortstop spot. While the O’s certainly aren’t moving him off the infield’s most demanding position, there’s no harm in building his experience on either side of the second base bag.
Baltimore has plenty of infield talent even after including Joey Ortiz in the Corbin Burnes trade. Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson can handle either position on the left side. Jordan Westburg split his time between second and third base while posting a solid .260/.311/.404 batting line over his first 228 MLB plate appearances.
Elias said the O’s would like to have a left-handed hitter who could factor into the second base mix, where the righty-swinging Westburg is in line for the majority of the playing time. Holliday could fit that bill once he’s officially called up, occasionally taking second base reps against tough right-handed starters (with Henderson sliding from third base to shortstop in that scenario). Baltimore acquired another lefty-hitting infield option, Nick Maton, in a small trade with Detroit last night.
The glut of infield talent should push last year’s Opening Day shortstop, Jorge Mateo, out of the regular lineup. The speedster remains on the roster despite speculation he could be traded or even non-tendered. Elias told The Fan that Mateo will see a decent amount of outfield run in Spring Training as he prepares for a utility role. While Baltimore has played Mateo mostly in the middle infield over the past two seasons, he has seen action in center field during his career.
Barring injury, Mateo isn’t going to be a regular on the outfield grass. He’s a good enough athlete to cover all three spots behind the projected starting trio of Austin Hays, Cedric Mullins and Anthony Santander. Top prospects Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad reached the majors last year. Kyle Stowers, Ryan McKenna and Sam Hilliard are all on the 40-man roster as well.
Hays found himself in the news this week, as the righty-hitting outfielder triumphed in his arbitration case against the club. He secured a $6.3MM salary for his second of three trips through that process. Hays is on track to get to free agency after the 2025 season, but his camp seems amenable to working out a long-term deal.
Francis Marquez, Hays’ representative at the MAS+ Agency, told Danielle Allentuck and Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner that there were no hard feelings coming out of the hearing. That’s not always the case, as some players bristle at being criticized by team representatives in what is an inherently adversarial proceeding.
“It could’ve been something that would’ve derailed a lot of good faith that has been built, and it did not,” Marquez told the Baltimore Banner. “Unabashedly, Austin is an Oriole, and he feels that he is young enough and he’s good enough to be a member of the Orioles for a long time, not just the time that he has in the arbitration system. So I think in an ideal world, 100%, Austin Hays would like to be a player who just wears an Orioles uniform during his career.”
It’s unclear whether the team has any interest in retaining Hays beyond his six-year control window. Marquez told Allentuck and Kostka that there have not been any extension talks to this point. With highly-regarded prospects like Cowser, Kjerstad, Stowers and last year’s first-round selection Enrique Bradfield Jr. in the system, Baltimore could decide to wait things out on their current starting outfield.
There’s ample long-term payroll space for the O’s if they decide to begin committing to some members of the core, Hays or otherwise. Baltimore’s only obligations beyond the upcoming season are a $1MM salary for star closer Félix Bautista and option buyouts to Craig Kimbrel, Danny Coulombe and Cionel Pérez.
Baltimore fans are hopeful the incoming ownership group will sign off on the kind of long-term deals which the team hasn’t made since John Angelos became point person. The incoming group led by David Rubenstein is set to take control of 40% of the franchise, pending approval from MLB’s other owners. (He’d assume a majority stake upon the passing of Peter Angelos.) Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun reported that a nine-person committee discussed the terms of the sale agreement at this week’s owners’ meeting. Weyrich suggests that MLB could move quickly to approve the sale based on their familiarity with Rubenstein, perhaps voting on it within a couple months.
Oddly enough Pecota projections has the Twins winning more games(88) than the Orioles(87) this year. It’s probably why I don’t buy into projections, analytics or spreadsheets for analyzing baseball.
Picks one random example and uses it to bash projection systems and analytics as a whole. Clown comment bro. Anyone who doesn’t “buy into analytics” is just admitting they have no clue what’s going on
“Picks one random example”…I’m very sorry you’re so thin skinned and that all of my opinions do not comform to yours. In the future I’ll try to do better, so you’re tender little feelings don’t get butt hurt.
@mlb fan: Travis didn’t say anything that a reasonable person could construe as his feelings were hurt. Travis just criticized your opinion. Travis made a logical statement. Perhaps in the future you could try to answer with a logical statement?
Feelings hurt? LOL
Travis used the term clown comment bro. Now I am not the leader of the snowflake brigade but if you say something like that to me that opens the door for me to say whatever I want to you.
Projection systems are like prospect lists. They are fun. They are the best of what we have. But they aren’t fact and shouldn’t be treated as such.
It’s because Bryce Harper said clown question when asked him something stupid… it’s a joke…. My god some of y’all are slow. Who on earth treats projection systems as fact? Nice red herring though
Ah, Travis is doubling down with ad hominem attacks about developmental disabilities. I have seen all I need.
Projections are fun but they aren’t factual. They are educated guesses. Best of what we have but not fact.
Right. They are good faith efforts to try and determine future out comes. If Silver still cared about Pecota, he’d probably try to figure why it was missing here and he’d try to fix it.
Of course projection systems aren’t fact. Why would anyone care about sports if they were?
What’s clownish is that anyone would suggest that the Minnesota Twins will finish with more wins than an Orioles team that won 101 games in 2023 and added Corbin Burnes to their rotation.
Additionally, the Orioles second-half run differential pro-rates to 103 wins per Pythag. So much for the “doomed for regression” mantra.
Projections just take recent trends and project them for the next season. It cannot anticipate player growth outside of expected growth. So young teams score worse from Pecota than older teams.
Yeah the projections do a poor job of accounting for the depth of the team and attributes playing situational baseball as “luck”, Although some luck goes into the sequencing, factors such as base running, pinch hitters, platoon advantages, bunt success rates, etc. are real parts of baseball that teams utilize in specific situations to win games. For instance, one of the stats that analysts use to measure luck is whether batting averages are higher with RISP despite some teams strategically using pinch hitters in those situations to improve chances of cashing in runs. A lot of these projection systems do not and realistically cannot accurately model for in game strategy.
I’ve got your back MLBfan. A question. What analytics were out there prior to the 2023 seasons that showed the Orioles winning 101 games and taking the AL East? Zero. Analytics are helpful but do not tell the whole story. Orioles were successful last year not by physical abilities alone but because of individual player attitudes that led to a healthy team chemistry. Specifically, IMO, the Os fortunes changed when Adley Rutschman showed up. Yes, physically gifted but more importantly a leader of men who plays the game with joyous heart. Infectious!
So stats and attitudes, to me, play equal roles in a team’s success. The one factor that can get in the way, if course, are injury.
That’s not how projections work. They give a range of likelihood of outcomes, and what you see without drilling in is their 50th percentile outcome. Orioles just hit their 90th percentile outcome.
Central vs East. MLB needs more teams to get back to two AL and two NL divisions. Been 26 years since expansion, and it would rekindle old rivalries.
MLB stupidly looks to NFL for guidance. Three divisions was stupid for NFl and remains stupid for MLB. If MLB foolishly goes to four divisions per league, further emulating NFL, they are destined to crown sub-.500 division champs.
And I don’t think we have a WAR projection for Manager (coaching staff) nor ownership group which seem to have impact which should not be ignored.
If the Orioles added Cease without moving any vital prospects (Holliday, Westburg, etc), they could win 108-110 games easily. The pitching is crucial. Can they play another 162 games relying on what they have outside of Boo-urns and Company?
What nonsense. Boo-urnes? Grow up.
Bradish, Rodriguez, and Means each have ace-caliber stuff. Wells can be lights out – possibly the actual best pitcher on staff – but has run into fatigue and injury in his two seasons as a starter. Kremer shows up for the big games and is a perfectly good 4 or 5.
Kick a rock, bro.
Simpsons reference…nice.
108-110 wins easily?? LOL. The orioles are turning into one of the most overrated teams ever. They’re good but they aren’t even close to 105+ win good….
101 last year was close.
Spreadsheets for analyzing any data are really basic as a tool: compare, average, sort. You can do the math and comparisons outside a spreadsheet, but it seems like the foundation of the spreadsheet makes this work easier, no?
Some pop, good speed, decent defender and under team control for two more seasons. Mateo could be the type of player the Marlins could target to play SS
As an Os fan id love to move on from him. He’s a fine bench player but we’re too deep and ready to win to justify him taking a spot on this roster. They won’t give him away of course bc he has some value but I think a couple flier pitchers in a teams 20-30 MiLB ranks and a Coke would get it done.
Why get rid of the perfect bench player? Guy can play solid defense at SS and has elite speed.
He’s not actually a perfect bench player. He hammers lefties but can’t hit righties and on top of that, he’s really only a shortstop. He is not a utility guy. Time and again, we see him make mistakes in the field if he doesn’t have a bazillion reps at a position. Even at SS he needs constant playing time to perform – he’s an all or very little guy. You get the most from his athleticism IF you play him constantly. He’s not suited to a bench role. Ask the Padres.
I’d amend that to Mateo has tremendous speed and is a very good defensive shortstop.
But boy does he flail at sliders from righties.
As I said, Ownership has been ‘Comedy of Heirs’ and everyone seems happy they sold . I hope they make decisions on some young players and make an additional move or two, for the Birds improvement of course but for giving some of their younger surplus an opportunity to play elsewhere.
These are exciting times for the Oriole faithful. Big decisions in the near future on who wins playing time or who gets extended.
I was looking at the Orioles roster last night and it’s ridiculous.
1B Mountcastle
2b westburg
Ss Mateo
3b Henderson
C Rushman
Of Hays
Of Mullins
Of Santander
Ci Ohearn
Mi Urias
Of Cowser
Of Kjerstad
C McCann
Coming mid season they should have Holliday, Mayo and Norby. Perhaps Haskin as well. They can move on from Santander and OHearn who are both soon to be free agents and truly not miss a beat. One of Urias and Mateo can he dealt or let go. And they still have numerous outfielders to replace Mullins and Hays in a few years if they need them.
There is no team in baseball that has the next half decade set up for them like this with position players. The pitching is another thing but it’s not bad and getting Burnes was huge.
That’s a Huge perhaps on Haskin. He’s not really an MLB caliber player.
Yeah I was thinking 26th man type of guy but frankly I don’t know much about him. Orioles are in great shape short and long term for sure.
The Orioles have been trying to correct this weird thing Haskin does, where he moves forward with the delivery and collapses back through contact. Things have improved, but last I saw he still does it to an extent. He’s athletic but there is way too much competition in Baltimore, imo. Maybe he could get a shot with a second division club and succeed.
I just wanna see the os free up a roster spot for Coby Mayo as soon as possible
If Ohearn has a bad showing over the first 2 months, he’ll get DFA’d and Mayo will get the call. It’s a win now year. All the veterans are on notice.
Braves fan here, but have have had a soft spot for the O’s since Ripken Jr’s heyday. My fall ball team as a kid was the Orioles, and Cal was a bat boy for my local minor league team (Asheville Tourists) before I was even born. I say all that say, it’s awesome to see them thriving again. I have to get out to Camden Yards this year!
You’re more than welcome Buddy! I’d love to see you in a 7 game series this fall…
The Cardinals Fans would love to see the Orioles trade Jackson Holliday to the Cardinals for 2 reasons!! One, of course would be to start Jackson at shortstop. The 2nd reason would be to entice his father, Matt Holliday as their new hitting coach.
The Orioles would definitely acquire several great prospects and possibly a veteran Outfielder in return!!!!
No where near enough! Sorry Bro…
Wedtburg will end up at 3rd and Jackson at 2b .
If I were GM, I’d be thinking of all the veteran bats as possible solid throw in guys in a trade packaged with a prospect. The whole outfield is bumping against becoming unrestricted in a couple. Mullins, to me, is the interesting question. He’s a great center fielder. If there’s not someone at his level to replace him–and Cowser is not, but maybe the new first round draft pick is–then maybe Mullins does get extended. There’s not a lot of good defensive centerfielders out there. If he can keep his legs healthy, he might be an Oriole well into this new era. The addition of either Hayes or Santander would improve every outfield in the American League Central, and you always need bullpen help. They are going to get pushed.
Unless the O’s believe they can sign Hays and roll him, Kjerstad and Cowser with a RH bat as their 4th? I’m with you, Mullins is very interesting. Thinking Satander is a QO candidate if he has a big 2024.
O’s still have some OFs in the minors who might make noise. This team could be scary the next 5 years or more.
I read someone state the Orioles should extend Mullins now at 3/$45MM. Bad idea for two reasons: 1. It’s smarter for the Orioles not to commit to the aging CF as his speed has been decreasing. Better to see where the prospects are post-2025. 2. Mullins salary is ~$6MM this year. Last arb year will probably be at ~$10MM max. If the Orioles REALLY need him, offer the QO, which will be ~ $22MM for 2026; he’ll accept in a heartbeat. Then they have paid Mullins a total of $38MM for those 3 seasons instead of $45MM.
“While the O’s certainly aren’t moving him off the infield’s most demanding position, there’s no harm in building his experience on EITHER SIDE of the second base bag.”
Which positions are on either side of 2nd?
Does this mean Jackson will be getting reps at 1st and short along with reps at 2nd?
Hows a L.Gilbert & Carlos Vargas swap for J.Holliday play out?
Ah, a Mariners fan weighing in. 3 years of Gilbert + junk doesn’t come close to 6 years of Holliday.
Holliday will be playing 2B at the LMB level because Gunnar is far superior defensively. He might still get reps at SS just in case, but will not sniff 1B. Nor 3B. It’s possible Holliday takes over in LF post-Hays. Possibly even CF post-Mullins.
I goggled LMB and got The Mexican League. Maybe L.Gilbert is too much if J.Holliday is being demoted there, haha. I assume you mean MLB, if not then The Mexican League will probably do him good.
L.Gilbert for the start of 24, 25, 26 and end of 27 season and some different junk for ya in Taylor Dollard for J.Holliday sound better?
These jokers like the value. baseballtradevalues.com/trades/163453
With Vargas it was .2 lower.
Seems all I’ve been reading on MLB Trade Rumors is that The O’s need starting pitching.
Will 1yr of Burnes keep them afloat for a WS run when the inevitable SP IL placement(s) happen?
8 different starting pitchers was the lowest number last yr & 23 different starters was the highest number.
When these high ranking prospects graduate to the next level where is the playing time at 3-9 when some positions are already filled with high ranking graduates?
How they find the playing time in a log jammed roster full of top notch players in the next 2yrs, I’ll be waiting for the ax to fall.
Its a nice problem to have no doubt about it.
This roster seems to be a prime example of The Pigeonhole Principle, so what is the answer to avoid it?
Yes, the LMB was a typo.
I pay zero attention to BTV. I think it is garbage. I have gone on with the intent of proposing stupid trades that are approved just to make it look ridiculous, but the thrill fades fast.
Nobody is blocking Holliday except for Gunnar knocking him over to 2B. I could see Cowser being blocked this year until Santander moves on after this season. Not a big fan of Colton despite him being picked #5 overall. Wouldn’t mind trading him along with Norby and Beavers for Gilbert.
Yes, the Orioles will continue to need SPs, like many other teams do. They have two in AAA who appear to look like future MORs in Povich and Seth Johnson and possibly a third in Chayce McDermott. One thing that may affect their future approach is the new ownership, which may make them players for FAs, which they have not been since before the 2018 implosion. Not saying Elias and Sig are big fans of big long-term SP contracts, but there may be more freedom now to sign FA SPs to contracts with options and opt-outs to mitigate length of commitment.