Jackson Holliday 2024

[OnlyOneOriole]

0-4 last night including three strikeouts.  Hitting just .130 over his last 10 games and with only two extra base hits.

 

16 for last 68. 

 

Not sure what is going on but now he is struggling to hit in AAA.   Starting to get a little concerning.  He just doesn't look very athletic to me out there.   Not like a Gunnar for example.  Hopefully he turns it around soon. 

[interloper]

Not really concerned. He's getting his taste of struggles for the first time in his career. He's 20. Just try to forget about him for awhile and let him simmer. He could develop for 2 more years and still only be 22. 

He also still leads Norfolk in hard hit. 

Edited May 22 by interloper

[vab]

He's being humbled which he probably needs at this point. I think he'll be fine in the long run but I'd forget about him coming back up this year. A lot to work on. 

[RZNJ]

25 minutes ago, OnlyOneOriole said:

0-4 last night including three strikeouts.  Hitting just .130 over his last 10 games and with only two extra base hits.

 

16 for last 68. 

 

Not sure what is going on but now he is struggling to hit in AAA.   Starting to get a little concerning.  He just doesn't look very athletic to me out there.   Not like a Gunnar for example.  Hopefully he turns it around soon. 

Yeah, but SportsGuy thinks because he was a 1:1 that automatically makes Gunnar 1A and Holliday 1B or even vice versa.

I think he’ll be fine but he’s not close to the athlete that Gunnar is and not nearly as strong.    
 

IMHO, his struggles are from trying to be something he’s not at this point, a power hitter.  Over swinging and trying to pull the ball.

[Frobby]

3 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

 

IMHO, his struggles are from trying to be something he’s not at this point, a power hitter.  Over swinging and trying to pull the ball.

That’s interesting, because I just read this from Eric Longenhagen:

“Holliday’s spray chart has shifted away from his pull side and moved toward left field and the third base line. For most of the last three weeks following his demotion, he’s been inside-outing lots of contact the opposite way, including pitches on the inner third of the plate that he typically turns on. He is swinging with a ton of effort and imprecision right now. The way Holliday’s body unwinds throughout his swing is still very exciting and athletic, but he may need to make an adjustment that simplifies things so he can be on time more consistently.”

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/a-top-100-prospects-update/

[CaptainRedbeard]

From Fangraphs yesterday, explaining the more recent AAA struggles:

Jackson Holliday, SS, Baltimore Orioles

You’re probably familiar with the sequence of Holliday’s 2024. He and the entire Norfolk lineup began the season on a collective tear while the Orioles were getting little production from second base. Holliday was promoted, hit .059 during a two-week big league trial, was sent back down, and has only sort of bounced back. Holliday’s spray chart has shifted away from his pull side and moved toward left field and the third base line. For most of the last three weeks following his demotion, he’s been inside-outing lots of contact the opposite way, including pitches on the inner third of the plate that he typically turns on. He is swinging with a ton of effort and imprecision right now. The way Holliday’s body unwinds throughout his swing is still very exciting and athletic, but he may need to make an adjustment that simplifies things so he can be on time more consistently. Bryce Harper’s swing might be a good template. These early hiccups are not reason enough to come off of Holliday’s top prospect evaluation.

 

Personally, I’d only be more concerned if Holliday was an older prospect who was having these struggles as he was trying to adjust to MLB pitching at age 23/24. He’s 20 and hasn’t really needed to make adjustments at any level in his entire life. He’s clearly working on making changes to help his timing for MLB velocity.

He’ll figure out how to start pulling inside fastballs again, that’s something he excelled at previously and at the MLB level he was probably exposed being too-pull focused and trying to pull outside fastballs he should have been taking the other way. Give him some time and he’ll hopefully have a much smoother transition once he’s called back up. 

[glenn__davis]

Like I tell my kids all the time, if you're adjusting, sometimes you get a little worse before you get better.

[panick]

39 minutes ago, CaptainRedbeard said:

From Fangraphs yesterday, explaining the more recent AAA struggles:

Jackson Holliday, SS, Baltimore Orioles

You’re probably familiar with the sequence of Holliday’s 2024. He and the entire Norfolk lineup began the season on a collective tear while the Orioles were getting little production from second base. Holliday was promoted, hit .059 during a two-week big league trial, was sent back down, and has only sort of bounced back. Holliday’s spray chart has shifted away from his pull side and moved toward left field and the third base line. For most of the last three weeks following his demotion, he’s been inside-outing lots of contact the opposite way, including pitches on the inner third of the plate that he typically turns on. He is swinging with a ton of effort and imprecision right now. The way Holliday’s body unwinds throughout his swing is still very exciting and athletic, but he may need to make an adjustment that simplifies things so he can be on time more consistently. Bryce Harper’s swing might be a good template. These early hiccups are not reason enough to come off of Holliday’s top prospect evaluation.

 

Personally, I’d only be more concerned if Holliday was an older prospect who was having these struggles as he was trying to adjust to MLB pitching at age 23/24. He’s 20 and hasn’t really needed to make adjustments at any level in his entire life. He’s clearly working on making changes to help his timing for MLB velocity.

He’ll figure out how to start pulling inside fastballs again, that’s something he excelled at previously and at the MLB level he was probably exposed being too-pull focused and trying to pull outside fastballs he should have been taking the other way. Give him some time and he’ll hopefully have a much smoother transition once he’s called back up. 

I'm confused. RZNJ said he wished Holliday would try to hit to the left side more instead of trying to pull the ball. This write-up says he's doing exactly that. 

[scottbbfm]

37 minutes ago, glenn__davis said:

Like I tell my kids all the time, if you're adjusting, sometimes you get a little worse before you get better.

I suspect they are trying to change a few things in his swing.  Saw a recent interview with someone about Tony Gwynn helping him.  Gist was that Tony told him you are going to go 0-4 tonight.  But do it the right way.  Laid out a plan.  Was hitting before he knew it. 

[CaptainRedbeard]

12 minutes ago, panick said:

I'm confused. RZNJ said he wished Holliday would try to hit to the left side more instead of trying to pull the ball. This write-up says he's doing exactly that. 

He needs to be able to hit the ball based on where the pitch is. He shouldn’t be trying to pull outside fastballs - those he should be hitting to LF. At the same time he needs to be able to pull inside fastballs.

IMO we saw something similar with Cowser in his recent skid, which he’s already come out of. He was so preoccupied with timing up changeups that he was missing some inside fastballs that he would normally crush, since he demolishes fastballs. He’s since adjusted back and has done some damage on inside fastballs again.

[emmett16]

1 hour ago, interloper said:

Not really concerned. He's getting his taste of struggles for the first time in his career. He's 20. Just try to forget about him for awhile and let him simmer. He could develop for 2 more years and still only be 22. 

He also still leads Norfolk in hard hit. 

This.  There is more to gain/learn from struggling a bit than there is from coasting through the minors w/o and hiccups.  He will constantly have to change his approach and adjust to how the league attacks him.  This is just a primer for what he will need to do the rest of his career. 

 

[baltfan]

44 minutes ago, scottbbfm said:

I suspect they are trying to change a few things in his swing.  Saw a recent interview with someone about Tony Gwynn helping him.  Gist was that Tony told him you are going to go 0-4 tonight.  But do it the right way.  Laid out a plan.  Was hitting before he knew it. 

Tony Gwynn is dead.  What am I missing?

[Big Mac]

2 minutes ago, baltfan said:

Tony Gwynn is dead.  What am I missing?

Jackson Holliday is actually the kid from the sixth sense.  A six tool player. 

[Malike]

3 minutes ago, baltfan said:

Tony Gwynn is dead.  What am I missing?

I'm pretty sure they mean they recently saw an interview of someone who Tony Gwynn helped.

[Bird Lady]

2 hours ago, interloper said:

Not really concerned. He's getting his taste of struggles for the first time in his career. He's 20. Just try to forget about him for awhile and let him simmer. He could develop for 2 more years and still only be 22. 

He also still leads Norfolk in hard hit. 

This. He's trying to implement what the Orioles have requested. It's natural that he may have some struggles until he masters the new process.