Second baseman Jackson Holliday has been at the Baltimore Orioles’ spring training facility in Sarasota for the past three weeks, hitting camp early with some of the team’s other young talent.
His manager, Brandon Hyde, expressed optimism over what he saw from the youngster, who hit .190 in 60 games last season as a rookie.
In an interview with Foul Territory, Hyde broke down what he’s seen so far.
O’s Manager Brandon Hyde says that Jackson Holliday is “more comfortable” heading into 2025
“I saw video from him in the winter but I was interested to see what it looked like,” he said on Monday. “For me, he did carry over what he was working on at the end of the season last year.”
Though Holliday’s numbers were underwhelming in his first cup of coffee in the majors, he finished the season strong, going 7-18 (.388) over his last eight games.
“We’re looking at that, the quality of at bats, the improvement defensively at second base,” Hyde continued. “Also, it was his first time playing second base last year and doing it at the big league level at 20, it’s not easy to do. So just adjustments, you can tell he’s more comfortable now and he’s not trying to impress as much. He’s going out and playing the game.”
Hyde added that fellow young sluggers Heston Kjerstad and Samuel Basallo joined Holliday in reporting to camp early.
Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday continues to adjust to second base
Holliday came up as a shortstop and as he adjusts to second base, he said he is trying to become more “crisp and sharp.”
“I know me personally, watching the league, everything is so clean and direct,” he said, per Jake Rill of MLB.com. “So that’s something that I’ve been working on, and obviously, just being as fast as possible on double-play feeds. Just trying to get the ball to [shortstop] Gunnar [Henderson] as quick as possible and let him do his thing.”
Hyde again said that Holliday was looking more comfortable, telling Rill that the 21-year-old has had more time to learn his position.
“He just had an offseason to get ready for that last year, and it was a lot to learn when you change positions,” he said. “To have a full year and another offseason, he feels a lot more comfortable.”
Holliday made his Grapefruit League debut on Saturday in the Orioles’ first spring training game of the year. He went 0-2 with a run scored in a 10-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
