Baseball’s top prospects take center stage in Beltway Series

James Wood and Jackson Holliday have been dueling all season. Not on the diamond, but in rankings as two of the top prospects in baseball.

In whatever order you put them in as two of the best young players in the sport, Wood and Holliday take center stage as they face off on a major league field over the next two nights for the first time in their promising careers.

Holliday has been the top prospect in the sport for the better part of the last year. The Orioles selected him with the No. 1 overall pick out of high school two years ago. Last year, he claimed the top spot in almost every prospect ranking by playing at four different minor league levels in his first full professional season.

Some expected Holliday to make the Orioles’ Opening Day roster out of spring training. But he started this year at Triple-A and made his major league debut on April 10. Although highly anticipated, he struggled during his first stint in the big leagues.

In 10 games, Holliday went 2-for-34 (.059) with a .170 OPS and 18 strikeouts. He was optioned back to Triple-A on April 26, where he also spent some time on the injured list with left elbow inflammation. He even strictly served as the designated hitter over three weeks when he returned from his injury.

Meanwhile, Wood has steadily climbed prospect rankings since joining the Nats farm system the same summer Holliday was taken with the top pick.

Like Holliday, Wood’s strong spring training raised debates on whether or not he should make the major league roster out of camp. But the Nationals practiced extreme patience with the 6-foot-7 Olney native.

Wood slashed .353/.463/.595 with a 1.058 OPS and 10 home runs in 52 games at Triple-A to start the season. His debut was also highly anticipated and quickly approaching. But he also spent time on the injured list with a hamstring issue, which delayed his major league debut until July 1.

As his big league career was about to start, Wood claimed the top spot in prospect rankings across many outlets. Some of his rise had to do with Holliday’s struggles in the majors and time sidelined due to injury. But a lot of it had to do with Wood’s own production and improvement in his first taste of Triple-A, mainly cutting down his strikeout numbers while walking at nearly the same rate.

Those promotions to the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball – and the Nats’ patience – were rewarded as Wood has steadily produced a .263/.355/.429 slash line and .784 OPS with four doubles, three triples, four homers and 25 RBIs in 36 big league games.

And as Wood was finishing his first month in the majors, Holliday made his return to Baltimore and has crushed the ball ever since, putting the two prospects on a path to meet at Camden Yards this week.

In his 11 games since returning from the minors, Holliday is 10-for-40 (.250) with a .650 slugging percentage, .968 OPS, five home runs and 12 RBIs. In fact, the two of them homered on the same day twice last week to add some more fireworks heading into this two-game series.

Wood has graduated from prospect status according to some outlets. But he still remains in the top spot per Baseball America, with Holliday sitting right behind him.

However you want to order them in top 100 rankings doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. It’s just fun to know that two of the top young talents in baseball play in the greater Baltimore-Washington metro region and will be going head-to-head at the major league level for the first time.

Say hello to the new faces of the Beltway Series.