‘He is comfortable here’: How Jackson Holliday’s clubhouse past helps his MLB future
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Tim Kurkjian, ESPN Senior Writer
It was 2:30 pm Friday, nearly five hours before second baseman Jackson Holliday‘s first game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. He was the only player on the field, and working on only a few hours of sleep after a late night flight from Boston, but he was full of life as he posed for a baseball card shoot with Topps. Out of the Milwaukee Brewers dugout came another phenom, outfielder Jackson Chourio. The Jacksons embraced, then posed for pictures.
A writer approached Holliday and said, “Got your hands full?”
He smiled and said, “Yes, always.”
Those hands have been full most of his life, but they are big hands, sturdy hands — hands capable of juggling much more than a 20-year-old has a right to.
“He looks like he’s 12, he acts like he’s 30, and he has handled it all beautifully,” said Baltimore Orioles catcher James McCann. “He came to (big league) spring training for the first time, and it seemed like it was his 14th. I went to college (at Arkansas), I played in the SEC, we played before 10,000 people every game. . .he came from Stillwater, Okla. Two years ago, he was playing in front of … parents. And then his first game is at Fenway Park.
“Amazing.”
Holliday smiled. “That was an incredible place to start a career,” he said. “It was awesome.”
Holliday was called up on April 10, just 10 games into his year at the Triple-A Norfolk Tides, and played two games at Fenway Park. He went hitless, and again in his first game at Camden Yards. After an 0-for-13 start that included nine strikeouts, he got his first hit on Sunday, a single that eventually made him the game-winning run in the Orioles’ 6-4 win.
“It’s a lot, but it’s been fun. It’s quite an experience. I don’t think I would ever take it for granted, the experience that I’m having,” Holliday told reporters after the game. “If you go 0-for for three or four games, it’s going to happen in baseball. I’d prefer it not to be at the beginning of my career, but it’s going to happen. I’m glad to hopefully learn from it.”
Even on a young team — the Orioles’ average age ranks sixth in MLB — Holliday is notably green, two years younger than shortstop Gunnar Henderson and four years behind Colton Cowser and starting pitcher Grayson Holliday.
Their oldest player, Orioles closer Craig Kimbrel, is 35.
“When I started my career, he was … born,” Kimbrel said, smiling. “He is comfortable here.”
And Holliday is comfortable, despite his age, because he grew up in a major league clubhouse with his dad, Matt Holliday, a career .299 hitter, and arguably the greatest player named Matt ever to play in the major leagues. Jackson was constantly at his dad’s side, even at pre-school age.
“Show Mr. Kurkjian your Ichiro batting stance,” Matt said to his son 15 years ago.
Five-year-old Jackson did Ichiro perfectly, then the stance of many other major league hitters. So when Jackson was called up, Matt received hundreds of text messages from former teammates — Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Aaron Judge among them — from his time with the Rockies, A’s, Cardinals and Yankees. They all sent messages because Jackson is their major league son, too. They all played catch with him.
In February 2008 in Tempe, Az., Brewers manager Pat Murphy, then the baseball coach at Arizona State, rented an adjoining house to Matt and Leslie Holliday for that spring training.
“Every time I looked out in the backyard,” Murphy said, “Jackson was hitting with my son.”
Matt, his wife, Leslie, and their younger son, Ethan, were in Boston for Jackson’s major debut.
“For my debut,” Matt said, “I was scared to death. He was not.”
The Hollidays were in Baltimore for Jackson’s home debut, too. They left the next morning because Ethan, a tremendous high school player in Oklahoma, was missing too many games.
“He’s in high school, he’ll be OK,” Jackson said, smiling.
The pressure is enormous being the son of a major leaguer, being considered the best prospect in the minor leagues and being one of the final pieces in what could be a dynastic next five to 10 years in Baltimore. But Jackson Holliday has an advantage: He is not being asked to save the franchise, as perhaps catcher Adley Rutschman was when he was recalled in May 2022. The Orioles won 101 games last season. They are loaded with talent; much even today remains in the minor leagues.
Holliday won’t be the last piece, but he might be the biggest piece — perhaps even bigger than Rutschman and Henderson — given his background and how he has overpowered the game at every stop. Yet he hit ninth in his first five major league games.
When was the last time he hit ninth?
“I did in spring training,” he said. “Before that, it was a while.”
In Holliday’s second game as a big leaguer, the Orioles hit five No. 1 picks in order in their lineup: third baseman Jordan Westburg, outfielder Colton Cowser, Holliday, Henderson and Rutschman. But only Holliday was given a sacred number in Oriole history — No. 7, last worn by the late Cal Ripken Sr., one of the most important and instrumental figures in Orioles history, the man who personified the Oriole Way.
Matt Holliday, who wore No. 7, called Cal Ripken Jr. for permission to wear his dad’s number.
Ripken, part of the new ownership group with the Orioles, gladly agreed.
“Now wear it with pride,” Ripken Jr. said.
So far, Jackson Holliday has. It has been a wild week, but he has handled most everything with great poise. Outfielder Kyle Stowers is taking care of his dog in Norfolk. Cowser gave him a ride to the ballpark before the first game at Camden Yards.
He is where he is supposed to be. And now he has the first of what will surely be many, many hits.
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Greg Wyshynski
Winnipeg Jets forward Nik Ehlers could muster only one word to describe the feeling of their 4-3 double-overtime Game 7 victory that eliminated the St. Louis Blues on Sunday night.
“Joy.”
Here’s another word: historic.
Captain Adam Lowry‘s goal at 16:10 of the second overtime closed out the series and advanced the Jets to face the Dallas Stars beginning Wednesday in Winnipeg. But overtime doesn’t happen without forward Cole Perfetti‘s goal with three seconds remaining in regulation, which established an NHL record.
Perfetti’s goal at 59:57 was the latest game-tying goal in a Game 7, topping the record set by Vancouver Canucks winger Matt Cooke (59:54) in the 2004 conference quarterfinals against Calgary. The Flames won the series in overtime. Perfetti also tied Washington’s Dale Hunter (1993) and Carolina’s Eric Staal (2006) for the second-latest game-tying goal in NHL playoff history. Cooke’s goal with two seconds left in a conference semifinal for Minnesota in 2003 is still the fastest.
Perfetti redirected a desperation Kyle Connor one-timer past St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington off a cross-ice pass from Nik Ehlers.
“I fanned on the first [shot], so I thought I’m not going to let that happen again. If we could get the goalie moving just a little bit, we might be able to create something,” Ehlers said of his pass.
“Sometimes, for whatever reason, if you look at the home teams in this series, the puck luck was incredible,” St. Louis Blues coach Jim Montgomery said.
Winnipeg didn’t have much luck to start the game. Jordan Kyrou gave the Blues a 1-0 lead just 1:10 into the game, as lackluster defense from Connor led to a 2-on-1 down low. Defenseman Colton Parayko found Kyrou for his third goal of the postseason. The Blues scored in the first period of every game of the series.
Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck allowed a questionable goal 6:16 later, as Mathieu Joseph wristed one past him from the top of the circle for a 2-0 lead. Hellebuyck finished the series with an .830 save percentage and a 3.85 goals-against average.
Winnipeg was 2-25 all time in the playoffs when trailing by multiple goals at any point in the game.
To make matters worse, defenseman Josh Morrissey left the game just four shifts into the first period because of an apparent shoulder injury. That meant Winnipeg played the majority of Game 7 without its top defenseman and second-leading scorer, as center Mark Scheifele missed Games 6 and 7 because of an upper-body injury suffered in Game 5.
This is the same scenario the Dallas Stars faced in winning Game 7 of their series against Colorado, playing without defenseman Miro Heiskanen and winger Jason Robertson. Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said he cited Dallas’s late-game comeback against Colorado on Saturday night to give the Jets hope for a rally.
The Jets chipped away at the lead in the second period on Perfetti’s power-play goal, but St. Louis’ fourth line — one of its best in this series — got it back with Radek Faksa‘s goal with 35 seconds left in the period.
“We obviously didn’t get the start that we wanted today,” Ehlers said. “They got another one at the end of the second period. But there was belief in this group. Nobody was hanging their heads. We looked at each other and said we’re not done playing hockey yet. It was special.”
Entering Sunday night, teams with a multigoal lead in the third period of a Game 7 were 119-4. Things were looking good for the Blues — until they weren’t.
Winnipeg pulled Hellebuyck with 3:14 left, leading to Vlad Namestnikov scoring with 1:56 left in regulation. Perfetti then scored with three seconds left.
The teams were scoreless in the first overtime, with Binnington (11 saves) busier than Hellebuyck (4 saves) in the opening extra session. Then, Lowery ended the series with his deflection of Neal Pionk‘s shot at 16:10 of the second overtime.
Lowry was born in St. Louis. His father, Adam Lowry, played five seasons with the Blues during his 19-year NHL career.
The Jets mobbed Lowry in celebration. For Hellebuyck, there was also a palpable sense of relief.
He’s considered the best goaltender in the world, expected to collect his third Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top netminder this season, giving him back-to-back Vezina wins. But Hellebuyck had been a playoff disappointment in the Jets’ first-round losses in 2023 and 2024, both in five games. He was disastrous against the Blues, especially on the road: getting pulled in three straight road games with a .758 save percentage and a 7.24 goals-against average.
The last time he was across the ice from Binnington in overtime was the championship game of the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, when Binnington was brilliant in leading Canada to victory over Hellebuyck and the U.S.
This time, Hellebuyck was saving the day until his team could win the game in double overtime. He made 13 saves in the final three periods.
“Amazing. Absolutely amazing,” said Arniel, who won his first playoff series as an NHL head coach. “I’ve seen a lot of hockey games. I’ve been around a lot of hockey games. Man, it was thrilling.”
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Kristen Shilton
Winnipeg forward Mark Scheifele did not play in Game 7 of the Jets’ first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday due to an undisclosed injury, coach Scott Arniel said.
Arniel ruled out Scheifele following the team’s morning skate. He was hurt in Game 5 — playing only 8:05 in the first period before exiting — and then did not travel with the Jets to St. Louis for Game 6. Arniel previously had said Scheifele was a game-time decision for Game 7.
Scheifele, 32, skated in a track suit Saturday, and Arniel told reporters the veteran was feeling better than he had the day before. Scheifele, however, was not able to participate in the Jets’ on-ice session by Sunday, quickly indicating he would not be available for the game.
Winnipeg held a 2-0 lead in the series over St. Louis before the Blues stormed back with a pair of wins to tie it, 2-2. The home team has won each game in the best-of-seven series so far.
The Jets’ challenge in closing out St. Louis only increases without Scheifele. Winnipeg already has been dealing with the uneven play of goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, a significant storyline in the series to date. Hellebuyck was pulled in all three of his starts at St. Louis while giving up a combined 16 goals on 66 shots (.758 SV%). In Game 6, Hellebuyck allowed four goals in only 5 minutes, 23 seconds of the second period.
Hellebuyck was Winnipeg’s backbone during the regular season, earning a Hart Trophy and Vezina Trophy nomination for his impeccable year (.925 SV%, 2.00 GAA).
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