BOSTON — After his rapid rise to the majors, Jackson Holliday was given a particularly meaningful number with the Baltimore Orioles.
Baseball’s top-ranked prospect made his big league debut Wednesday night at Fenway Park, starting at second base and batting ninth against the Boston Red Sox. He struck out swinging his first time up and finished 0-for-4 with an RBI groundout in the sixth. The Orioles won 7-5.
The 20-year-old infielder, selected No. 1 overall in the 2022 amateur draft out of high school in Oklahoma, is a son of Matt Holliday, a seven-time All-Star and the 2007 NL batting champion.
“Nervous? I mean, a little bit. Not too bad,” Jackson Holliday said before the game. “I’m not as nervous as I thought I would be. I’m more excited. Kind of changed the mind frame from nervous to excitement. But yeah, I’m really excited.
“I got a taste a little bit during spring training. Obviously, this will be different now during the season, but I felt like I was able to hold my own and definitely looking forward to tonight.”
Holliday will wear No. 7 for Baltimore. His father wore that number during seven seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals and one with the Colorado Rockies. But it hadn’t been worn by a member of the Orioles since former manager Cal Ripken Sr. was still coaching in 1992.
One of his sons, Billy Ripken, was the previous Baltimore player to wear that number, in 1988. The Ripken family, Orioles royalty, gave its blessing to the young Holliday.
“Our family is thrilled that @J_Holliday7 will be wearing dad’s #7,” Hall of Fame shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. posted on the social platform X. “Excited to watch him play!”
Holliday, who turned 20 on Dec. 4, became the second-youngest player in the majors behind Milwaukee outfielder Jackson Chourio, who turned 20 on March 11.
“A guy making his major league debut is always exciting,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “It’s exciting for everyone. It’s going to be fun to watch. I’m excited for the kid, excited for the family. It’s a real, real special day. It’s an overwhelming day for Jackson. I just hope that he relaxes as much as possible.”
A left-handed hitter, Holliday was drafted as a shortstop less than two years ago out of Stillwater High School and advanced through four minor league levels in 2023. He had a tremendous spring training with Baltimore this year, batting .311 with a .354 on-base percentage and .600 slugging percentage in 15 games.
But general manager Mike Elias wanted Holliday to get more playing time at second base and more experience against left-handed pitching. Just before the end of camp, Holliday was sent down. In 10 Triple-A games this season, he hit .333 with a .482 on-base percentage and .595 slugging percentage.
That time in Triple-A paid off, Holliday said.
“Yeah, I think getting at-bats. I got a lot of at-bats because we scored a lot of runs,” he said. “I was able to get pretty comfortable. My swing’s in a good spot, put together a lot of good at-bats versus lefties, which we knew was kind of more of the purpose of being down there. And, it doesn’t hurt to play.”
Primarily a shortstop, Holliday made 33 minor league starts at second base, including eight this season. Gunnar Henderson, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year, plays shortstop for the Orioles, so Holliday will get most of his time at second.
He started a 4-6-3 double play to end the second inning Wednesday.
“There’s a lot to process and there’s a lot of hype,” Hyde said. “Hopefully, he can just relax, think confidently and have fun out there.”
That was Holliday’s plan.
“Just to get comfortable. After the first pitch or first groundball or however it is, I think I’ll be fine,” he said. “I’m just going to try to hit the fastball back where it came from and go from there.
“It’s different. It’s a lot. I feel like I’ve been born to handle that, and to be here and play baseball for a long time.”
Baltimore selected Holliday’s contract from Triple-A Norfolk. To make room for Holliday on the roster, utilityman Tony Kemp was designated for assignment.
Told of his promotion after his Triple-A game Tuesday night, Holliday phoned home with the news.
“It was a really cool moment to be able to call my dad and tell him to find his way to Boston,” he said.
Matt Holliday batted .299 with 316 home runs and 1,220 RBIs during 15 major league seasons with the Rockies, Athletics, Cardinals and Yankees from 2004-18.
Along with his father, Jackson Holliday was expecting his grandfather Tom Holliday, a longtime college coach; his wife, Chloe; his mother; and his brothers and sister at Fenway Park for his debut.
The youngster hadn’t had time to go through all the texts he’d received wishing him good luck. But there was one from a Maryland native that stood out.
“My dad showed me a text message from [Olympic swimmer] Michael Phelps,” Jackson Holliday said. “So, that was kind of cool.”
The award is presented “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team” and voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
Draisaitl, 29, led the NHL in goals (52), tied for third in points (106) and was a career-best plus-32 in 71 games this season. He won the award in 2019-20 and is a two-time finalist.
Hellebuyck, 31, led the league in wins (47), goals-against average (2.00) and shutouts (eight) and was second in save percentage (.925) among goalies to play at least 25 games. The Vezina Trophy finalist as the best goaltender in the NHL is a first-time Hart finalist.
Kucherov, 31, led the NHL in scoring for the second consecutive season with 121 points (37 goals, 84 assists). He won the Hart Trophy in 2018-19 and is a three-time finalist.
The New York Rangers are in advanced contract talks to make former Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan their next head coach, sources told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Kevin Weekes on Thursday.
The deal is expected to be one of the richest coaching contracts in NHL history, the sources said.
Sullivan would head to New York in a move that is coming together three days after he left his job with Pittsburgh, where he coached for 10 seasons and won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.
The Penguins have missed the playoffs for the past three seasons amid a retooling of the roster.
David Quinn, Sullivan’s top assistant in Pittsburgh, is not expected to join him in New York. Quinn will be a candidate for other head coaching vacancies, including Pittsburgh’s, according to sources.
John Tortorella is a strong possibility to rejoin the Rangers organization. Sullivan, Quinn and Tortorella were on the coaching staff for Team USA at Four Nations.
In New York, Sullivan would replace Peter Laviolette, who was fired after the Rangers didn’t make the postseason for the first time since 2021.
Sullivan was selected by the Rangers in the 1987 draft but never played for New York, choosing to stay in college at Boston University before going on to an 11-year NHL playing career with four teams.
Sullivan, 57, previously served as a Rangers assistant coach from 2009 to 2013 on Tortorella’s staff. He also was the head coach of the Boston Bruins for the 2003-04 and 2005-06 seasons.
Scheifele will remain in Winnipeg after he missed the second and third periods of his team’s 5-3 victory Wednesday against the Blues in Game 5 of the Western Conference quarterfinals.
“You’re hoping for the best that maybe he wakes up today and things are better,” Arniel told reporters before the team flight to St. Louis. “But right now, he won’t be making the trip, and we’ll just go day-to-day moving forward.”
With 13:51 remaining in the opening period, the Jets were in the Blues’ zone when Scheifele had just played the puck along the half wall. That’s when he was instantly checked by Blues captain Brayden Schenn. Scheifele appeared to be concentrating on the puck and looked as if he did not see Schenn, who connected with the top half of Scheifele’s chest and knocked him down to the ice.
Schenn was given a two-minute minor for interference and another two-minute minor for roughing.
A little more than 10 minutes later, Scheifele was involved in another physical sequence. He was just about to reach the Blues’ zone when forward Radek Faksa also checked him and appeared to have struck Scheifele in the same area as the previous hit from Schenn.
Scheifele finished the first period, but Arniel spoke to the officials as both teams were entering the dressing room before first intermission. Blues coach Jim Montgomery confirmed with reporters after the game that Arniel spoke to the officials about the Schenn hit before sharing his thoughts.
“Let’s make it clear: Fifty-five got hurt from the Faksa hit,” Montgomery said. “He played six minutes after the Schenn hit. He didn’t come back after he got rocked by Faksa.”
Upon hearing Montgomery’s comments, Arniel had some thoughts of his own.
“I didn’t know Monty got his medical degree and can say how our player got hurt. He’s way off base and should not make that comment,” Arniel told reporters. “There’s some things that have been going on in this series and that was a repeat of what we’ve seen before: A player leaving his feet and then hitting a player in a very unprotected spot. Like hitting him in the sense, almost blindsiding him. Not happy with how the call was made. A two-minute minor. Not even looking at it is what I was upset about.
“It is something we have talked to the league about for five games.”
On Thursday, Arniel was asked if Scheifele was in concussion protocol.
“I’m not going down that road,” Arniel said.
It’s possible that the Jets could once again turn to Vladislav Namestnikov like they did in Game 5 and elevate him to the top line. The second-line center would take Scheifele’s place on the first line alongside Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi.
Namestnikov, who had 11 goals and 38 points in 78 regular-season games, had his strongest game of the postseason in Game 5. He finished with a goal and two points while logging 17:15 of ice time.