Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday is in Baltimore for another MRI on his ailing right hand, the team announced to reporters (link via Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner). The O’s will likely have further updates once the imaging has been performed. However, with an off-day tomorrow, said update might not come before Friday.
Holliday suffered a broken hamate bone during a batting practice swing early in spring training. He had surgery on Feb. 12 to remove the hamate hook — standard procedure for hitters who incur this injury. That surgery typically comes with a recovery period of four to eight weeks, but Holliday hasn’t been able to get back on track. The O’s halted his first rehab stint and sent him for additional testing. He went out on a new rehab stint a few days later but has now been pulled back again after experiencing another painful swing.
Now more than two months removed from the surgery, Holliday still doesn’t appear all that close to joining the Orioles. The 22-year-old has taken 56 plate appearances between High-A Frederick and Triple-A Norfolk during his pair of rehab stints and carries an anemic .176/.250/.235 batting line with a 23.2% strikeout rate and a 5.4% walk rate. He’s averaged 86.3 mph off the bat with just a 26.7% hard-hit rate in his 47 plate appearances in Norfolk.
With Holliday sidelined, the Orioles have given utilityman Jeremiah Jackson the lion’s share of playing time at second base. He’s responded with a stout .297/.321/.527 batting line (136 wRC+) and five home runs in 78 turns at the plate.
Whether he can sustain that is an open question. Jackson has benefited from a .327 average on balls in play — a higher-than-average mark, but not egregiously so. (League average thus far is .289.) However, he’s walked only three times (2.6%), and his 73.2% contact rate ranks 139th among the 195 MLB hitters who’ve tallied at least 70 plate appearances this season. His free-swinging, low-contact approach could well prove exploitable over a larger sample, but for the time being, Jackson has more than capably held down the fort at the keystone.
Holliday’s eventual return could have ramifications around the infield. If Jackson is still hitting well, he could slide over to third base in place of former top prospect Coby Mayo. The expectation was that Mayo’s bat would be fine at the hot corner in place of the injured Jordan Westburg, but there were substantial questions about his defense. The inverse has played out. Mayo has looked plenty solid with the glove, but he’s continued to flounder against big league pitchers, hitting just .158/.262/.246 with a homer and a 27.7% strikeout rate. Mayo has drawn plenty of walks but hasn’t hit the ball hard (86.3 mph average exit velocity, 33.3% hard-hit rate).
Time will tell how much longer Holliday remains sidelined, but recent developments certainly aren’t encouraging. The former No. 1 pick hit .242/.314/.375 with 17 homers and 17 steals last year as a 21-year-old in his first full major league season.
First round of that ’22 draft looks a little underwhelming so far. Like father like son isn’t happening on first couple draftees.
Looking like el busto. Hope he’s a nice guy. Gordon Beckham has done awwright as a nice guy fill in color analyst. Anyone whos willing to hope on a place to Sac’to has to be awwright
Jeremiah Jackson is playing better than Holliday ever has.
Jackson and Carlo Cortes (.319/.396/.928) are two recent Mets AA prospects, given away for virtually nothing, that are doing well for (respectively) the O’s and A’s.
Another bad mark for the highly overrated David Stearns.
Plus he got a big movie coming out this week with Tito and Randy
Jeremiah Jackson is this years Trevor Rogers — hard to identify how the success is being had, and it all seems like a mirage…but…you know, nobody has solved him yet since he came up last year.
For a guy that had ‘stalled out’ in AA for a couple years, to get traded, then granted release, sign up with Orioles and make the Show within the same season… Awesome!
AA, 373 games: .229/.292/.410 (LAA & NYM)
AAA, 40 games: .377/.400/.673 (BAL)
MLB, 70 games: .283/.326/.471 (BAL)
More gold from the Warehouse Wizards!
Warehouse wizard- stockboy at Walmart?
I mean, kinda. Sig Mejdal was a NASA guy before baseball, but before that he took a job during college at a casino…and casinos are like Walmart stock boys, pretty much.~
Jeremiah probably just needed a change of scenery because he’s raking with the Orioles now!
People are on Rogers this year but he’s pitching like the mid rotation guy he should be expected to be. His stats weren’t sustainable. Neither are Jackson’s, he came down a little bit last September. Happy to get it while its coming.
It’s distressing that the Orioles players are always on the long, drawn-out end of the majority of injuries. Corbin Carroll had the same injury at the same time and already has 87 PA this year, and playing well. Meanwhile Holliday’s looking like June. Maybe.
Holliday missed Easter and will prolly miss Memorial day. Maybe ready labor day?