Jackson Holliday

Holliday had one of the most impressive full-season debuts any teenage prospect has had in modern memory, and the scary thing is he may just be scratching the surface. He still has a babyface and room to add 20 pounds of muscle in the coming years, but that didn't stop him from logging a .323/.442/.499 slash line with 12 home runs, 24 steals, a 17.4 BB% and a 20.3 K% while being between two and seven years younger than the average player in the leagues he was in while climbing from Single-A to Triple-A as a 19-year-old. His exit velocities aren't as intense as the other hitters in the top five of prospect rankings, but the expectation is that he will hit the ball harder as his body matures. Holliday is a plus runner who hits left-handed, which is important given how his future home park plays (much better for lefty power than righty power). His defense is behind his offense, but it's really hard to nitpick that aspect of his game when most premier teenage shortstop prospects haven't played a game in the upper levels of the minors and he played 36 games at Double-A and 18 games at Triple-A. It's possible Holliday comes to camp 15 pounds stronger and looks ready on both sides of the ball in spring training and forces the issue. However, there's little incentive for Baltimore to expedite Holliday's ascent to the majors if they think he could benefit from a couple months at Triple-A.

Holliday helped himself more than any prospect in the 2022 draft class in the year leading up to the draft. The son of 14-year MLB vet Matt Holliday trained with the likes of his father and Nolan Arenado to add muscle and power, and he now projects as a lefty-hitting five-tool shortstop. Baltimore was drawn to everything about Holliday's game, with his handedness and ability to stick at shortstop possibly being the tiebreaker over Druw Jones at 1-1. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound 18-year-old already shows over-the-fence power to all fields, and at his best, he is driving the ball to the opposite-field gap. Holliday is a plus runner who is just starting to tap into his potential, and his lineage is an added bonus. His pro debut was a huge success in a small sample. Holliday slashed .297/.489/.422 with one home run, five doubles, four steals and a 12:25 K:BB in 20 games across the Florida Complex League and Single-A. That advanced approach should serve him well in his first full season, and the potential superstar could move very quickly up the ladder.