Baltimore Orioles shortstop Jackson Holliday was the top-ranked prospect in Major League Baseball last season and mostly struggled as a wide-eyed 20-year-old rookie. The son of eight-time All-Star Matt Holliday looks much more prepared ahead of his sophomore campaign.
He is jacked!
Holliday was the No. 1 overall pick in 2022 and hit .321 as a minor-leaguer. He earned a promotion to MLB last April but it did not go well. His .189 batting average in 190 at-bats quickly dulled some of the shimmer.
However, Holliday is only 21 years old with plenty of time to grow into a star— grow being the key word. He was listed at 180 pounds as a rookie, finished the year closer to 188, and often drew criticism for his small frame. That is no longer the case!
He still looks really young, but physically? Physically, his strength is impressive.
— Orioles manager Brandon Hyde
Holliday recognized that his strength and energy had declined at the end of last season. It was a reality check so he got in the gym as soon as he got home to Oklahoma.
His workout plan at first was as simple as “lifting heavy things.” As the winter continued, Holliday’s longtime trainer worked closely with the strength and conditioning staff in Baltimore to create a specified routine focused on sustained energy, bat speed, balance and raw power. And then there was his diet.
A lot of ground beef and rice. I pretty much had ground beef for breakfast ever day […]
I’m not a very good chef. I can make steak and ground beef, and that’s about it.
— Jackson Holliday
The protein-focused diet and strength program was a great success. Jackson Holliday gained no less than 10 pounds over the last five months. He weighed-in at 200 pounds on the first day of spring training last week and looks much bigger than he did at the end of his rookie season.
I would even go so far as to say that the ground beef made him beefy! The results also indicate an uptick in power. Holliday hit a ball with an exit velocity of 110 miles per hour earlier this month.
Needless to say, Jackson Holliday looks completely different. He expects the hard work to pay off in the box this season! A breakout year seems to be on the horizon.
