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The Baltimore Orioles drafted Jackson Holliday as their top pick in 2022. The second baseman made his debut last season with immense expectations but failed to deliver, batting only .189.
However, the son of Matt Holliday has turned things around in his second MLB season. After 74 games and 289 plate appearances, Jackson is slugging much better, batting .256, along with 10 home runs and eight stolen bases.
On Friday, MLB Network's Tom Verducci discussed the transformation of Holliday, who has improved his slugging from .275 to .447 after a dismal 2024 season. While analyzing Holliday's breakout campaign, Verducci compared his swing and hitting mechanism with Atlanta Braves Hall of Famer Chipper Jones.
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"You see how low the bat is—he needs to tip it into position," Verducci said. "He had a bigger leg kick. Now everything is more simple. It’s easier to be on time with fewer moving parts. Again, look at the bat now. Last year he had to tip that into position. He also had a higher leg kick last year. So there was more going on. That means more things can go wrong.
"So he simplified his setup and the swing. This is the guy he reminds me of: first time I saw him, I said, that is the Chipper Jones swing. Again, from the left side — look at their hands. They are very similar, the way they get the barrel through the zone. Chipper had a little bit of a tip, the two-hand finish — Chipper Jones."
Verducci also said that with the way Jackson Holliday is slugging, he could hit 30 home runs this year.
Jackson Holliday advances in All-Star voting
While it hasn't been a pretty season for the Baltimore Orioles, the organization will be pleased with Jackson Holliday's performance this season. His stats are helping his case for potential first All-Star selection.
On Thursday, Holliday joined his teammate Ryan O'Hearn to advance to Phase 2 of All-Star voting. While O'Hearn leads American League designated hitters with 1,762,125 votes, Holliday is second for the second base position with 1,302,186 votes. Detroit Tigers second baseman Gleyber Torres, who's hitting .285, leads with 1,981,655 votes.
The voting will be reset, and the one who comes out on top in this phase will be named as the starter in the 2025 MLB All-Star game. The voting will be carried out from Monday noon to Wednesday noon.
