Orioles send former No. 1 pick Jackson Holliday back to minors after he hit .059 in 10 MLB games
BALTIMORE (AP) — Highly touted prospect Jackson Holliday has been optioned to the minor leagues by the Baltimore Orioles after starting his big league career with a disappointing thud.
Holliday was promoted from Triple-A Norfolk on April 10 amid plenty of fanfare, but the 20-year-old second baseman managed only two hits — both singles — and two walks in 36 plate appearances over 10 games. He struck out 18 times and was batting .059 with one RBI and a .111 on-base percentage.
The Orioles tried to rest him periodically, but Holliday, the top pick in the 2022 MLB draft, never busted out of his funk at the plate. So, Baltimore sent him back to Norfolk on Friday before opening a three-game series at home against the Oakland Athletics.
“We decided to call him up and see how the translation to the major leagues would go on a short-term basis,” general manager Mike Elias said. “What we have seen here led me to the evaluation and opinion that he would benefit from going back and adjusting there rather than doing it here in real time.”