Brandon Hyde, manager of the Orioles, provides insight into the unexpected Jackson Holliday selection choice
The Baltimore Orioles are grappling with inconsistency, with a rough start to the 2025 season leaving them in search of stability. Manager Brandon Hyde is shaking things up, implementing a lineup change against the Washington Nationals on Thursday night. 21-year-old phenom Jackson Holliday finds himself benched, with Jorge Mateo taking his place at second base.
Hyde's reasoning for the lineup switch is straightforward, as reported by Baltimore Sun reporter Jacob Calvin Meyer. "I don't want guys to feel stale on the bench," he said. Despite the shift, Holliday's flagging performance isn't the issue. In fact, he's demonstrated improvement compared to his rookie season, boasting better stats than his 60 games in 2024. His batting average, on-base percentage, and power are all up from last year. Even history books have been rewritten thanks to him this season.
Holliday may not be the contact hitter fans were hoping for, but he's handled high expectations admirably. At just 21, he's one of the youngest players in Major League Baseball, sharing the spotlight with Jackson Merrill and Jackson Chourio. His future is still bright, but comparisons with his peers might be premature.
Regardless of Holliday's performance, the Orioles' overall showing this season has been disappointing. After winning 91 games last year, they're at risk of breaking their streak of playoff berths. With several games still left in the season, they have a chance to turn things around, but they've spent most of it lingering near the bottom of the AL East.
Changing the lineup helps keep players fresh, but Hyde needs more from his players if the team is to improve. Getting Baltimore's starting pitchers back from injury would be a significant boost. The team's starting rotation has been incomplete all season, and the league-worst rotation (with a 6.22 ERA and negative fWAR) has taken a heavy toll.
But fear not, Orioles fans – the team has the talent to make a deep postseason run. It's just a matter of figuring out which buttons to push to right the ship. The primary issues facing the team are pitching deficiencies and offensive underperformance, compounded by injuries and underperformance from key players. Aggressively pursuing trades for mid-rotation arms, optimizing Rutschman's workload, and adding contact hitters to the lineup could help alleviate some of these issues. Without addressing these systemic problems, however, the Orioles risk staying in the AL East cellar.
Mateo takes Holliday's place at second base as Hyde implements a lineup change to keep players fresh and avoid staleness on the bench. Despite improved stats this year, Holliday's performance hasn't been enough to save the Orioles from inconsistency, putting their playoff berth streak at risk. The team's pitching deficiencies and offensive underperformance, coupled with injuries and underperformance from key players, are the primary issues facing the O's. Hyde needs more from his players to improve and boost the team's chances of making a deep postseason run in the MLB.
