Aug 4, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Baltimore Orioles second base Jackson Holliday (7) against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Baltimore Orioles GM admits regret over Jackson Holliday promotion

Originally posted on Baltimore Orioles on SI
By Grant Young | Last updated Aug 11, 2025 8:00 AM ET

At the start of the 2024 season, Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday was the top prospect in all of Major League Baseball.

Not only did Holliday hail from an iconic baseball family, but he was also selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft and tore through the Orioles' minor league system, including him hitting .323 with a .941 OPS with four different teams during the 2023 season. This convinced the baseball world that Holliday was destined for instant success at the highest level.

After Holliday started the 2024 campaign with Triple-A Norfolk and slashed .333/.482/.595 with two home runs through 10 games, the Orioles decided to call Holliday up. The then-20-year-old made his MLB debut on April 10 and proceeded to hit 2-for-34 (.059) in 10 games, thus causing the Orioles to option him back to Triple-A later that month.

Holliday ultimately returned to the Orioles later on but struggled across his rookie campaign, hitting .189 with a .566 OPS and 5 home runs in 190 at-bats.

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Orioles GM Mike Elias Gets Honest About Jackson Holliday Promotion

While Holliday is producing a much better 2025 season with Baltimore than he did one year prior, he still hasn't hit the stride that many expected of him, given what he accomplished in the minors.

This seems to have sparked some regret regarding how the Orioles fast-tracked Holliday's ascension, which Baltimore GM Mike Elias suggested with a quote he had when speaking to the Baltimore Banner's Danielle Allentuck for an August 10 article.

“I think some of our call-ups that didn’t go smoothly, Jackson being one of them, we didn’t give them enough time in Triple-A,” Elias said. “If we have an opportunity to try to make sure that’s not the case, we’re going to do it.”

This was in the context of Elias explaining why the franchise is hesitant to call up top prospects Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers right now, both of whom are currently in Triple-A.

Why haven’t the Orioles called up Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers?

Here’s Mike Elias’ answer in an interview with @BaltimoreBanner https://t.co/0TkA7sLZh5
— Danielle Allentuck (@d_allentuck) August 10, 2025

One has got to respect Elias' candor in admitting that perhaps the organization sent Holliday to the major leagues too fast, and that may have impeded his development in hindsight.

The bottom line is that Holliday is still 21 years old and has a lengthy (and likely prosperous) MLB career ahead of him. But one can wonder whether he might be performing at a better clip right now if he had been given more time to blossom in Triple-A last season.

This article first appeared on Baltimore Orioles on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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