When Jackson Holliday made his big league debut earlier this season, he appeared to be a bust. He struggled on defense and amassed more than his fair share of strikeouts, and ultimately, the Baltimore Orioles decided to option him back to Triple-A Norfolk.
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Since he was recalled on July 31, he has done nothing but obliterate baseballs.
Holliday, 20, continued his tear in the second inning on Saturday with his fifth homer in 10 games making him the only player in Orioles history to do so before turning 21 years old. It was his first career left-on-left blast, as he jolted a 1-0 sinker from Tyler Alexander a Statcast-projected 408 feet.
He is also the youngest player with four homers in a six-game span since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with the Blue Jays in 2019.
Four of Holliday’s five home runs have traveled more than 400 feet.
“I’m not trying to hit homers,” Holliday said with a smile. “I’m just trying to hit the ball hard on the barrel. Just trying to hit the ball hard and wherever it goes, it just happens to be going over the fence at a pretty high rate right now.”
Holliday’s hot streak makes the early days of this season seem like another season. Long gone are the days of going 2-for-34 in 10 games, with no extra-base hits and 18 strikeouts.
“He’s got a nice swing and there’s a lot of things that work in that swing and he’s got a lot of confidence and he really can get on a fastball,” manager Brandon Hyde told reporters Wednesday in Toronto. “I just think we’re seeing the confidence growing honestly up here at this level. Little bit of success and all of a sudden you start feeling good in the batter’s box and he’s getting some huge hits.”
How has Holliday transformed himself? Co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller broke it down for Rich Kubatko of MASN Sports on Sunday.
“Wisdom comes through experience,” Fuller said. “No matter how many times you tell the Triple-A guys it’ll be a little bit different, the pitchers will be a little bit better, you come up here, you experience it. And then, for the guys like Colton, for Jackson, you go back down and you have a plan in place and wider base, stronger positions for his body to be in. And then everything’s just a little bit smaller.
“His leg kick, his hand positioning, the moves are a little bit smaller, so you just get that little bit of time to make better decisions. Yesterday, that sinker that he hit out, it was a micro-adjustment if you look at that swing. Just a little bit more adjustable, stronger positions, giving him a little bit more time. It’s a credit to the development staff going down to Triple-A and making those adjustments, and when coming back here, learning from that experience and being really good right now.”
Holliday is doing all this damage batting in the No. 8 spot in the lineup.
As he explained to Steve Melewski of MASN, Holliday is just trying to barrel the ball. They just happen to be going out of the yard.
“I mean, I love hitting home runs, so that’s pretty great,” he said. “But it’s not what I am trying to do. Trying to just hit line drives. And I keep catching the ball at good angles. And it’s been fun to hit the ball all over the field and that is what I am trying to do. Glad that they are going over the fence right now.”
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