Jackson Holliday Talks Hitting
To understand why Baltimore Orioles shortstop Jackson Holliday is the no. 1 prospect on our Top 100 list, look no further than Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin’s writeup of the 20-year-old phenom. They describe Holliday, the first overall pick in the 2022 draft, as “a sweet-swinging shortstop with above-average feel for contact and burgeoning power,” and close their evaluation by predicting that he “is very likely to become a 5-WAR shortstop who does everything well.” He has been spending time at second base this spring, because the O’s already have last year’s no. 1 overall prospect Gunnar Henderson at shortstop, but either way, stardom is seemingly in Holliday’s future.
That the promising youngster is the son of former big league slugger Matt Holliday is well known. It is also a primary factor in his advanced approach to hitting, as well as his overall understanding of his craft. Last season, which he began in Low-A and ended in Triple-A, the lefty-hitting Holliday produced a .323/.442/.499 slash line and 159 wRC+ across four levels of the minor leagues.
Holliday sat down to talk hitting over the weekend prior to a Grapefruit League game in Sarasota.
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David Laurila: How do you approach hitting?
Jackson Holliday: “As far as guessing pitches… that’s not something I’m great at. But I really enjoy learning about swings — different guys’ swings — how they work, and little things that can help, like cues. My dad has been around baseball for so long, and is such a hitting guy, and I got that from him. But yeah, my approach is pretty simple. I try to stay in the middle of field, stay on my backside, and hit the heater.”
Laurila: Are you basically hunting fastballs and adjusting from there?
Holliday: “Yeah. I sit fastball. I don’t sit offspeed unless there is a real outlier. That’s something I learned from my dad. He would sit heater and try to hit it to the middle of the field. If you’re in a good spot to hit a fastball to the middle of the field you can adjust to the offspeed pitch a lot better than you can sitting offspeed and trying to hit a heater.”
Laurila: How hard is it to be diligent with that? There are going to be times where your subconscious brain tells you, “He’s not going to throw a fastball here.”
Holliday: “Yeah. But I try to eliminate that. The few times last year I would think about a slider, I would get blown up by a heater. So, that’s definitely something I try to get away from. Sitting on a heater… my body adjusts the best that way. I’m actually hitting more offspeed pitches when I’m doing that.”
Laurila: How have you evolved in terms of your setup and swing?
Holliday: “What I have now is kind of the baseline of the swing I had as a senior in high school. I wasn’t very consistent, or very good, so I had to make some adjustments. I did some subtle cleaning up of my load, getting back to my leg kick, making sure my hands were in a position that I want to fire from. In spring training last year, I worked on it a little bit more, and I’ve continued to work on it. I want to be as consistent as possible.
“The leg kick, and making sure that I’m on my backside, is important to me. If you come out of your backside, your front side is going to open; bad things tend to happen when the front side opens. So, it’s kind of thinking that I’m going to hit a home run over the batter’s eye. I know that’s pretty unlikely, but it gets me in a good position to hit with my lower body. Again, I’m trying to fire through the middle.”
Laurila: What have you learned about yourself as a hitter recently, be it from data, hitting coaches, etcetera?
Holliday: “Certain things that I may struggle on. Last year it was the changeup at times. It became, ‘OK, I’m struggling on changeups; maybe I can keep my path a little bit longer.’ Once I got to Double-A, I really started to be able to handle them. I attack things I can get better at. I’m good at hitting fastballs up in the zone; that’s something I’ve worked on. I’m always finding little things to challenge myself with.”
Laurila: Hitting is about timing, regardless of the pitch. That in mind, what do you mean by “keep my path a little bit longer” on changeups?
Holliday: “A lot of it has to do with your front side. If you can hold your front side long enough you can stay on changeups. You don’t roll them over. If your front side opens, your back runs out of room and you roll them over. Just being able to keep that path going through helps me stay on changeups and offspeed pitches. Even if I’m out front, I still have room to flip it over the shortstop’s head or drive it into the gap.”
Laurila: In thinking middle, are you more trying to let the ball travel, more trying to catch it out front, or is that something you try to avoid thinking about?
Holliday: “I try not to think too much about my swing during the game. That’s something that you can do in the cage — maybe you can work on catching it out front a little bit more, like on a cutter or a slider — but once the game starts it’s all about competing. I’m trying to make sure my body is in a good position to do that.”
Laurila: Do you still talk hitting with your father?
Holliday: “Absolutely. He was a pretty good hitter, so I trust him. He’s also known my swing ever since I was a little kid, so it’s very easy to talk to him about it. I think he has a pretty good grasp on good qualities for me.”
Laurila: How similar are you as hitters?
Holliday: “The approach is pretty similar. Obviously, he’s a lot bigger than I am and had a little more thump. We’ve both got the leg kick. So there are similarities, but he was a different hitter than I am.”
Laurila: Is hitting fun?
Holliday: “It’s very difficult, but it’s also probably the most rewarding… I mean, whenever you do square a ball up, or drive a ball in the gap, or go 4-for-4, it’s rewarding because it is so challenging. I tell people all the time how hard hitting really is. If you can do it in the major leagues, hats off to you. It’s definitely the most difficult thing to do in sports.”
Laurila: Any final thoughts?
Holliday: “My favorite swing right now is Corey Seager’s. That’s something that’s cool for me. I really like to watch him hit. If I had to model my swing after anybody’s, it would be his.”
Laurila: How similar is Seager’s swing to your own?
Holliday: “I don’t know. It’s kind of different, because he’s a lot bigger than I am, but if I could pick a swing to imitate, that would be it.”
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Earlier “Talks Hitting” interviews can found through these links: Jo Adell, Jeff Albert, Greg Allen, Nolan Arenado, Aaron Bates, Jacob Berry, Alex Bregman, Bo Bichette, Justice Bigbie, Cavan Biggio, Charlie Blackmon, JJ Bleday, Bobby Bradley, Will Brennan, Jay Bruce, Triston Casas, Matt Chapman, Michael Chavis, Garrett Cooper, Gavin Cross, Jacob Cruz, Nelson Cruz, Paul DeJong, Josh Donaldson, Brendan Donovan, Donnie Ecker, Rick Eckstein, Drew Ferguson, Justin Foscue, Michael Fransoso, Ryan Fuller, Joey Gallo, Paul Goldschmidt, Devlin Granberg, Andy Haines, Mitch Haniger, Robert Hassell III, Austin Hays, Nico Hoerner, Rhys Hoskins, Eric Hosmer, Jacob Hurtubise, Tim Hyers, Connor Joe, Jace Jung, Josh Jung, Jimmy Kerr, Heston Kjerstad, Steven Kwan, Trevor Larnach, Doug Latta, Royce Lewis, Evan Longoria, Michael Lorenzen, Gavin Lux, Dave Magadan, Trey Mancini, Edgar Martinez, Don Mattingly, Marcelo Mayer, Hunter Mense, Owen Miller, Ryan Mountcastle, Cedric Mullins, Daniel Murphy, Lars Nootbaar, Logan O’Hoppe, Vinnie Pasquantino, Graham Pauley, Luke Raley, Brent Rooker, Drew Saylor, Marcus Semien, Giancarlo Stanton, Spencer Steer, Trevor Story, Fernando Tatis Jr., Spencer Torkelson, Mark Trumbo, Justin Turner, Trea Turner, Josh VanMeter, Robert Van Scoyoc, Chris Valaika, Zac Veen, Alex Verdugo, Mark Vientos, Matt Vierling, Luke Voit, Anthony Volpe, Joey Votto, Christian Walker, Jared Walsh, Jordan Westburg, Jesse Winker, Bobby Witt Jr. Mike Yastrzemski, Nick Yorke, Kevin Youkilis.
David Laurila grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and now writes about baseball from his home in Cambridge, Mass. He authored the Prospectus Q&A series at Baseball Prospectus from December 2006-May 2011 before being claimed off waivers by FanGraphs. He can be followed on Twitter @DavidLaurilaQA.
I have read them all. Great work, David!
dude is going to be a stud
I’m not one to obsess over privilege of all sorts being called out these days, but is there any more true form of privilege than all of the sons of mlb players following in their footsteps? Nothing against these kids; I’m just rooting for the Tim Hill’s of the league.
There are a lot better examples of privilege than the consensus #1 prospect being called up.
Just sticking in the sports world, NFL coaching families would be a better example.
In the broader entertainment world, anything more subjective than this would be another great example. See: actors/actresses. No one is putting David Ortiz’ kid on a big league roster because Papi is friends with the owner. But Jaden Smith got roles in movies.
Since this is fangraphs I won’t get into society at large. But there’s a whole discussion about privilege as systemic, not merely individualistic – and the fact that the stakes are a bit higher in many privilege discussions.
Yes, wealth and access to a major leaguer are forms of privilege. But there are MANY better and more problematic examples than Jackson Holliday or Vlad Guerrero Jr.
This comment also seems to fall into the trap of thinking privilege = results. It does a disservice to what the concept of privilege is about, and to folks like Jackson Holliday – who had advantages, but isn’t being given opportunity on a stacked young roster because his dad was major leaguer.
There is a broader discussion to be had here, as the ranks of Major League Baseball fill up with the sons of millionaires (and not just millionaire former players). These kids have had access to the best private coaching and expensive travel teams from early childhood, advantages that an equally gifted Joe Schmo just doesn’t have. Major League Baseball will always be a meritocracy, in the sense that the best players will always play, but which kids actually get a chance to become the best players is more and more a question of privilege.
I think this is accurate. There are definitely advantages to be had relating to resources. Also, having Matt Holliday’s genes is a huge boost compared to any normal human (he was a great athlete even among major leaguers). But ultimately, I would find the privilege argument more compelling as regards things like coaches, e.g. Bill Belichick’s sons. Those seem like pure nepo hires. The actual players are gonna eventually sink or swim on their merits.
Brian Belichick didn’t even play football in college, haha!
Yes–and I think we’re seeing it in realtime with LeBron and his son, who perhaps wouldn’t be at USC without having the name but isn’t going to get drafted because of it, either.
It’s deeper, though–this kind of wealth and privilege means you’re growing up with the opportunity to choose whatever you want and receive elite coaching, mentoring, and support in all other aspects of life. It’s not a guarantee it works or results in anything, but all other things being equal, two kids with equal attributes growing up in wildly disparate settings…I mean, I live in America. Yes, adversity builds you, but it’s also helpful to be a young Cody Bellinger growing up in the Yankees clubhouse (ask Barry Bonds about it).
But I don’t think that’s a reason to hold it against Holliday or something specific to baseball (there are more Romneys, Kennedys, and Bushes still meaningfully empowered than Bartolo Colón has kids) If we want to change the nature of material inheritance, that’s a larger sociopolitical debate, but not a moral blemish on a fortunate kid with a famous last name who decided to make good use of his ample resources and develop the work ethic to succeed.
Yep, becoming a baseball player is crazy expensive for a family. Forget equipment and fees: no one’s got time! Gotta get back to the job! In general a Harvard-Westlake or some other private school kid is just a lock to outpace some kid in a public school that’s been forced to split room and funding with a private charter. I kept saying in 2021 that Crow-Armstrong’s early and massive gap in access to resources just made him a way likelier bet than most to fully recover his career track after that shoulder injury, same for Fried and Giolito HS TJs
I mean, on the whole privilege = results. That’s a big chunk of why things are the way they are, if anything getting worse for gen pop (tanked food, tanked education, sedentary, tanked wages, public wealth pillaged and privatized)
Holliday’s excellent at beisbol tho! As a non-O’s fan, maybe most exciting is his rise makes it more likely Gunnar Henderson shakes loose in a few years. Maybe I also go Langford #1 just because Holliday hits more GBs than I prefer these days
Do you not see a difference between the extreme talent of Jackson and the lack thereof with Bronny James? Jackson earned this on his own merit, he’s no different than any other rich kid that got the chance to follow his baseball dreams. Whereas Bronny is only a thing because of who his Dad is. He will only be drafted because of nepotism.
Bronny James is talented. Is he overrated because of who his father is? Probably. Will he get drafted because of nepotism? No.
Who is upvoting this garbage?
This is a weird gripe. Where did Bronny come into catching strays on this? But in any event, he’s a legit D1 athlete. We’ll see if he’s draftable or not. He’s obviously playing poorly right now, but it’s not real fair to drag a 19 year old kid for having a mediocre freshman year after he almost freaking died in practice 9 months ago.
It’s the reverse here because so many people are averse to LeBron now. So they are carrying their dim-witted emotions over to his kid.
Is there a field of human endeavour in which children are not likely to follow in their parent’s footsteps. Baseball is not unusual in that respect.
When you think of all of the guys who played in the bigs, and then compile a list of the very best players around, I don’t think that nepo-babies are particularly over-represented. Success is more about the drive and the dedication than inherited genes. And of course the child has only half his father’s genes. The mother may not contribute anything useful (in the genetic sense) And maybe it is hard for a child of privilege to inherit the drive.
“What I have now is kind of the baseline of the swing I had as a senior in high school. I wasn’t very consistent, or very good”
Per wikipedia, this is the senior season in which “He finished the season batting .685 with 17 home runs, 79 RBIs, 29 doubles, and 30 stolen bases over forty games.”
I appreciate this series. You pick up alot reading player interviews, still too easily recall Brandon Woodruff talking about sinkers up like whaaaatyoucandothat (now everyone either does it or wants to), and its a great change of pace in sports content