SARASOTA, Fla. – Jackson Holliday flashed the speed tool in his kit during Thursday’s game against the Pirates at Ed Smith Stadium, lining a pitch into the right-field corner and reaching third base without a slide for his first spring triple.
He had no shot at catching the guy in front of him.
Enrique Bradfield Jr., last year’s first-round draft pick with the 80-grade speed, had entered the game as a pinch-runner for Tyler Nevin and scored on the play. Holliday was busting it and couldn’t close ground on his teammate.
Holliday laughed about it later while waiting to speak with the media outside the baseball operations building. Asked whether he thought he might pass Bradfield, baseball’s No. 1 prospect shook his head at the absurd notion that anyone could beat the Vanderbilt blur. The kid who stole 46 bases in 46 attempts as a sophomore. You've got to be kidding.
Jorge Mateo wouldn’t mind taking a crack at it.
