Son of Rockies star Matt Holliday, Jackson, called up for MLB debut

Jackson Holliday, the son of former Colorado Rockies star Matt Holliday, is set to make his MLB debut this week for the Baltimore Orioles. The consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft and has risen meteorically through the minors.

The left-handed-hitting middle infielder traversed four levels in his first full professional season in 2023 as Holliday slashed .323/.442/.499 over 581 plate appearances. There was thought he’d break spring training camp with the O’s but he was held down for a week in the minors where he again raked. Now, he’ll likely debut on Wednesday or Thursday at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox.

Of course, his father once played the Red Sox in the World Series in 2007. Holliday was basically a baby at the time but there are plenty of pictures of him in his father’s arms as Colorado won the pennant to peak Rocktober. Just as the video below shows Jackson as a kid playing with Matt at Coors Field.

Jackson Holliday playing ⚾️ at 3 years old is wild!

📹: @SportsDenver pic.twitter.com/xqmCefRGHP

— MLB (@MLB) April 10, 2024

While the hype is likely real on the young Holliday, he’ll have plenty of work cut out for him just to be as good as his dad was. Matt was a seven-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger and is a former batting champion as well as World Series champion. He spent his first six seasons in Colorado before the Rockies shipped him out instead of paying him. Holliday enjoyed the bulk of his prime in St. Louis but still his iconic moment was in Game 163 of 2007 when he slid in for the Rockies game-winning run in extra innings to clinch playoff berth. Holliday’s name is still littered in the Rockies record books and is known as one of the better players to appear in purple.

Jackson has those Rockies roots, and was raised in the Coors Field clubhouse both as a baby and then as a teen in his father’s second-stint in purple as a part of the 2018 playoff-bound Rockies. And funny enough, Matt’s former outfield mate Ryan Spilborghs will be on the broadcast call for Jackson’s home debut on Friday.

Here’s what folks were saying about Jackson Holliday when he was 3. From a profile I wrote on Matt and his baseball family before the 2007 World Series: pic.twitter.com/tvvjX1yDgl

— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) July 18, 2022

Jackson will be the second-youngest active position player in MLB and joins an O’s team that won 101 games and took the AL East crown last year. It’s expected that Holliday will shift from shortstop to second base due to the abundance of talent the team has. Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson are two of the best young players in baseball and Jordan Westburg, Samuel Basallo, Coby Mayo and Heston Kjerstad are some of baseball’s biggest-name prospects.

One other fun Rockies note—like father wore No. 7 for most of his career in the bigs, so will son.

Maybe the next No. 7 in purple will be a Holliday—Jackson’s younger brother Ethan is projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 MLB Draft and that year’s selection will be determined off a lottery based on the 2024 season’s record, where the Rockies are projected by many to be the worst team in baseball—meaning the Rockies are the most likely landing spot for Ethan Holliday.