Orioles’ Holliday, hitting .059, optioned to minors
BALTIMORE — Highly touted prospect Jackson Holliday has been optioned to the minor leagues by the Orioles after starting his big league career with a disappointing thud.
Holliday, 20, was promoted from Triple-A Norfolk on April 10 amid plenty of fanfare, but the second baseman managed only two hits — both singles — and two walks in 36 plate appearances over 10 games. He struck out 18 times and was batting .059 with one RBI and a .111 on-base percentage.
The Orioles tried to rest him periodically, but Holliday, the top pick in the 2022 MLB draft, never busted out of his funk at the plate. Baltimore sent him back to Norfolk on Friday before opening a three-game series at home against the Oakland Athletics.
“We decided to call him up and see how the translation to the major leagues would go on a short-term basis,” general manager Mike Elias said. “What we have seen here led me to the evaluation and opinion that he would benefit from going back and adjusting there rather than doing it here in real time.”
Holliday will seek to regain his form at the plate with Norfolk, where he batted .333 with 5 doubles, 2 homers and 9 RBIs in 10 games this season before being summoned by the Orioles.
Holliday excelled in the minors last season and was dominating Triple-A pitching at Norfolk, but that didn’t translate to success at the major league level during his time with Baltimore this month.
“He got very intense, very specific feedback from major league pitching,” Elias said. “He’s a brilliant talent and a very sharp kid, and I expect he’s going to go implement those adjustments really quickly. But we felt that Triple-A and steady playing time in Triple-A was the place for that, for a number of different reasons.”
Most notable is that the Orioles can’t afford to nurse Holliday along while vying to repeat as division champions.
“We’ve got a team in a tight race in the American League East, and it’s just not an optimal place to be doing player development for a kid like him,” Elias said.
The move should lead to more playing time for veteran infielders Ramon Urias and Jorge Mateo, both key contributors last season.
“We felt like it was important for him to just go play,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “It’s not easy here, and what he’s done up to this point in his short, short career, the start of his career has been unbelievable. It’s not easy, just not easy here. We want to take some weight off his shoulders and just go play.”
The son of former All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday was thought to have a chance to make the big league club out of spring training, but instead started with Norfolk. Now he’s back down again, looking to right himself and get a second chance with Baltimore.
“It’s nothing that Jackson did. We were the ones that have been moving him along this quickly,” Elias said. “It’s a little hiccup. It’s probably the first one that he’s ever had, and he’s ultimately going to be better off for it.”
His demotion could cost the Orioles a prospect promotion draft pick. The stipulation is that players with little or no MLB service time need to break camp with the team or be called up within two weeks of Opening Day. Then they must spend all or most of the year in the big leagues. In addition, they must either win their league’s Rookie of the Year award, or place in the top three for MVP or Cy Young.
As part of the roster shuffle on Friday, the Orioles selected the contract of outfielder Ryan McKenna from Norfolk and designated catcher David Bañuelos for assignment.
TORONTO — Blue Jays outfielder George Springer skipped into third base on a key RBI hit by teammate Alejandro Kirk, and hopped right into an inning-ending out in the fifth on Sunday against the Athletics.
Springer was called out following a replay review after Athletics third baseman Max Schuemann alertly kept his glove on the Blue Jays right fielder while Springer hopped up and down on third base.
Springer, who had reached on an RBI single that opened the scoring for Toronto, was celebrating Kirk’s double that cut the deficit to 3-2.
The out call meant Toronto slugger Addison Barger didn’t get to bat with runners at second and third.
Schuemann had just entered the game as a defensive replacement, taking over for Miguel Andujar.
The Athletics had lost five straight and 16 of 17 entering Sunday.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Slumping Rangers slugger Adolis García was held out of Texas’ lineup for the third consecutive day Sunday, with president of baseball operations Chris Young saying the club wants the 2023 ALCS MVP to make some mechanical changes.
“We need him to kind of commit to some of these changes that we think will get him back to the ’23 version of himself and help him be the player that we know he can be,” Young said before Texas’ series finale against St. Louis.
García is hitting .155 in the past 20 games with 25 strikeouts. He is hitting .208 overall, with seven homers and a team-high 27 RBIs for a Rangers club that has struggled offensively. He ranked 14th in the majors with 122 home runs over the past four seasons.
García, who has started 55 of Texas’ 60 games in right field this season, missed only one other game before this weekend, with manager Bruce Bochy saying Friday that García was being given a mental break.
“It’s about the mental reset and coming back with more energy,” García told reporters Saturday. “I’m working on some stuff without the pressure of having to do something up there.”
García, 32, is in the final season of a two-year contract.
The anticipated return of Evan Carter to the active roster Tuesday, joining Wyatt Langford, Alejandro Osuna and Sam Haggerty, further crowds the Rangers outfield as García tries to return to the lineup.
“It’s going to be performance-driven at this point,” Young said.
Texas also made three roster moves before Sunday’s game. Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (triceps fatigue) was placed on the 15-day injured list retroactive to Thursday, catcher Tucker Barnhart was designated for assignment, and right-hander Codi Heuer was selected from Triple-A Round Rock.
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