Watch How Top MLB Prospect Jackson Holliday Found Out He’s Going Up To The Bigs

There aren’t many videos in sports that tug at your heartstrings and/or bring a smile to a fan’s face than when a young finds out that he is getting the call to the big leagues.

Such was the case on Wednesday when much-heralded Major League Baseball prospect Jackson Holliday was informed that he would be heading up to join the Baltimore Orioles’ squad.

Holliday, who just turned 20-years-old in December, is the son of seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday, who played from 2004 to 2018 for the Colorado Rockies, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, and New York Yankees.

He was the first pick of the 2022 MLB June Amateur Draft out of high school and has proceeded to tear up the Minor Leagues since signing with the O’s.

In 155 games, Jackson Holliday has moved rapidly up from Rookie League to AAA by slashing .321/.451/.949 at multiple levels. In 583 at-bats, Holliday has hit 15 home runs, drove in 93, hit 40 doubles, scored 145 times, and stolen 29 bases.

Many expected that after batting .311 with a .600 slugging percentage in Spring Training that he would have made the Orioles to begin the season, but instead he had to wait 10 games for it to happen.

Watch as Jackson gets the news that he is going to The Show in a very heartwarming and roundabout way.

One of the reasons given for why Jackson Holliday didn’t make the Major League squad out of Spring Training was because, as Orioles’ general manager Mike Elias explained, they wanted him to get more reps at second base since Baltimore already has other young guns in their infield with Gunnar Henderson at shortstop and Jordan Westburg playing second and third base.

While many assumed that the reason for the Baltimore Orioles keeping Jackson Holliday in the Minors as opposed to making the team out of Spring Training was to delay the clock starting on his service time and keep him under contract to them for an extra year.

Now, if Holliday stays with the big club for 172 days this season, the Orioles will receive an extra first-round draft pick through the Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) program if Jackson goes on to win the Rookie of the Year award in the American League.

The Orioles are apparently hoping to not repeat what happened in 2022 when they kept Adley Rutschman in the minor leagues until May 21, only to see him win American League Rookie of the Year and the team did not getting the extra draft pick.

However, if Holliday struggles, the Orioles can still send him back to the Minors with less than 60 days of service time and the PPI program will again be in effect for him in 2025.