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Handed his major league debut in April 2024, Jackson Holliday had quite a character-building first season at the top level. After struggling to make an impact, the 21-year-old was sent back down to Triple-A later that same month.
However, when he was recalled to the lineup in late July, Holliday showed significant improvement, eventually establishing himself as one of the team's most potent lower-order hitters.
Speaking about his expectations for Jackson Holliday heading into the new season, former Minnesota Twins third baseman and current MLB analyst Trevor Plouffe said he expects the youngster to have a successful season but not yet reach the heights of someone like Gunnar Henderson.
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"Jackson Holliday, for all his trials and tribulations, still had a positive WAR (wins above replacement) last year," Plouffe said (13:12 mark). I'm excited to see (what he does in the new season). I think everyone around baseball is excited to see what this year brings for him."
"You know, another year of struggles, then you're like, 'Okay, what have we got here?' I don't anticipate that. I also don't anticipate him just going off and being Gunnar Henderson, that's not really fair. I still think there's going to be some bumps in the road with him. He's 21 years old, give the kid some time."
Jackson Holliday opens up on the 'lessons' that the 2024 season taught him
Having experienced the highs and lows of life as a professional baseball player during the 2024 season, Jackson Holliday told former big leaguer Jake Peavy about the lessons that he learned over the course of the campaign.
"Yeah, I mean obviously it didn't go the way that I would have hoped, or I guess the team, we would have liked to make a little bit longer run in the playoffs. But it was a good learning experience," he said (via MLB Network).
"Obviously we play a game of failure and to be able to go up there and fail and go back down and come back up and have a little bit more success. It was a good experience."
With Opening Day fast approaching, fans hope Jackson Holliday can continue from where he left off in 2024 and continue to impress. Having agonizingly missed out on the AL East title to the New York Yankees last year, the Orioles will now be looking to their young talent to lead the team one step further this time around.
