Jackson Holliday 2023

[emmett16]

11 hours ago, Jagwar said:

First of all... I'm in awe of the numbers Holliday has put up. 

My question... with his batting stance, does he seem to pull off the plate somewhat? Does it make him vulnerable to pitches located on the outer half?

His plate coverage is good.  I think he baits pitchers to throw outside.  

[Just Regular]

2023 wRC+'s as Baysox:

Holliday 183, Mayo 177, Kjerstad 160

OBP it runs Holliday 445, Mayo 425, Kjerstad 385

 

[TheWall]

54 minutes ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

How was Shohei ever a prospect?  Tell me about his time in the minors.  Where is Bryce Harper on this list?

That list really isn't complicated to understand. They are ranking the excitement around the guys they have had as the number 1 prospect in baseball since they started doing the list in '04. There are only 21 guys on the list, because up until recently they would only do a pre-season update every year (now they do a mid-season as well). 

They sort of cheated putting Ohtani as the top prospect in pre-season 2018, but he was at the top of their list so he needs to be on this one. Harper was never their top ranked prospect, because he was behind Trout in '11 and Matt Moore in '12. 

[RZNJ]

1 hour ago, Jagwar said:

Yeah that's exactly what I meant. I'm wondering if when he gets to the bigs, and sees more high 90s / 100 mph outside fastballs, is "stepping in the bucket" going to pose a problem for him? 

Good question.  From the results, I’d bet on him making any necessary adjustments.   I don’t see him as some kind of “Arráez” type of high average hitter but who knows.  

[emmett16]

I went back and looked at some video from the last couple years and some recent ABs.  Below is a picture of him driving a middle-out FB to LCF for a double in last nights game. He’s on time and in a good power position.   
 

He starts with his right toe in line with the middle of his back foot.  When he loads and puts it back down it is almost in the identical spot, only difference is that he has opened his foot ~45 degrees.  He’s doing this to be able to clear his hips while creating hip/shoulder separation.  This creates his elite bat speed.  
 

You hit the outside pitch off you back side,  behind your belly button, almost behind the plate.  So long as your weight is firmly on your back leg you can still cover the outside part of the plate no matter where your front foot is.  A good/typical warm up routine to practice letting the ball get deep/hitting off back side  is to stand completely square with your chest/stomach facing pitcher and to drive balls to opposite field.   To me it looks like he is looking/baiting the pitcher to throw a FB away but has his body positioned and coiled to turn on anything inside.  

[Frobby]

10 hours ago, Alasdaire said:

The thing is that his BAbip is always high. He hasn't posted a BAbip below .400 at any of the three levels he has played at this year. When a player consistently posts a high BAbip, it doesn't hold much explanatory ability to reason that they're just permanently lucky (not saying you're doing that).

It will be interesting to see what his xBA is like when he reaches the levels where that data is publicly available.  

[brucewayne]

3 hours ago, RZNJ said:

Good question.  From the results, I’d bet on him making any necessary adjustments.   I don’t see him as some kind of “Arráez” type of high average hitter but who knows.  

Arraez is the best contact hitter in the world. So no, I do not expect Holliday to be Luis Arraez right now, but I wouldn't put it past him to become the world's best contact hitter at some point in his career. He rarely pops up, hits a lot of line drives, has a low k rate for somebody so young, hits the ball on the ground at a decent clip, has speed getting out of the box and with the new shift rules LHH have now recaptured their massive natural advantage over RHH. 

Edited August 13, 2023 by brucewayne

[Paul in Virginia]

 

 

[Can_of_corn]

Nice sound.

[Alasdaire]

Interesting that Ethan doesn’t have the same loping leg kick that Jackson has.

Before you say that Jackson does that to compensate given his smaller frame than Ethan, know that Jackson has had the leg kick since he was three .

[ShoelesJoe]

1 hour ago, Paul in Virginia said:

 

 

I'm guessing Ethan will be ranked high enough that its unlikely he'd fall to us in the draft. Would love to have both of the Holliday kids in our organization.  

[Gurgi]

18 minutes ago, ShoelesJoe said:

I'm guessing Ethan will be ranked high enough that its unlikely he'd fall to us in the draft. Would love to have both of the Holliday kids in our organization.  

Hard to get him when we will be picking 30th and he likely goes in the top 15

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Gurgi said:

Hard to get him when we will be picking 30th and he likely goes in the top 15

Just get him to tell teams he'll only sign with the O's. 

[Alasdaire]

11 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Just get him to tell teams he'll only sign with the O's. 

The ol' Jud Fabian.

Ethan could say it convincingly to be honest. His fallback is going to his hometown college, which is perennially relevant in the NCAA and where his uncle is the head coach.

[sevastras]

9 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Just get him to tell teams he'll only sign with the O's. 

Worked for Eli Manning. Ethan was taller at 15 than Jackson on draft day. Kid is going to be huge!  If I were Elias, I would give Jackson a taste of the majors this year and have him in the OD roster and casually mention, “man, it would be nice to have your brother on the team playing with you too”.  
I don’t know if Ethan is going to be as great as Jackson, but he sure does have a physical advantage over him.