Holliday: "I understand pretty much what happened last year" (plus other notes from Birdland Caravan)

The maturity of Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday can reveal itself in many ways.

On Friday night, it happened behind a bar at PBR Baltimore during a Birdland Caravan stop. Holliday is old enough to drink alcohol – and certainly to pour, which he was busy doing.

The kid turned 21 in December. He won’t be relegated to sipping “Bird Bath” water, unless he chooses it, if another clinching celebration erupts in the clubhouse.

Holliday will report to spring training as the favorite to win the second base job, but it’s a competition. He probably can’t afford to have a terrible camp with the team well-stocked in infielders, even after designating Emmanuel Rivera for assignment.

It would get a little trickier if Jorge Mateo isn’t ready for Opening Day, but still manageable. And there’s always the waiver wire.

The guess here, again, is that Holliday is much better and gets most of the at-bats at second, with Jordan Westburg the primary third baseman. Everything else will sort itself out, including playing time for Mateo and Ramón Urías, and how Coby Mayo finally gets his opportunity beyond a brief audition in the heat of a pennant race.

Holliday made it through a three-minute media scrum without any questions about Golden Tee. Push it to four and he likely would have been subjected to them.

How confident are you that this is going to be a better year for you?

“I’m pretty confident. I’m excited for spring training, to get out and start playing games and face some live pitching.”

Did you work with your dad (Matt Holliday) and coaches in the offseason?

“Yeah, my dad mainly. But just kind of building off last year, making adjustments and trying to clean some things up. I’m definitely as strong as I’ve ever been. Been doing running stuff and going to Tulsa and trying to make that a priority to be able to steal bases and really impact the game in multiple different ways.”

Was it sort of ‘tough love’ from your dad, reviewing what didn’t go well for you?

“No. I mean, I understand pretty much what happened last year. I don’t think he needs to come up to me and remind me. I know what I need to do. I know I need to cut down strikeouts and continue to hit mistakes and hit fastballs. That’s something I think a lot of guys who get to the big leagues, they understand their swings. He’s very easy and I can learn a lot from him. Bu it’s not tough love or anything like that. Just making adjustments. The main thing is just trying to cut down strikeouts, make the defense work and put the ball in play.”

How good do you think this team is going to be?

“Really good. I think our team always has a whole lot of potential to do something really special. And I think each year we get more experience, the better we’ll be.”

How exciting is this year for your family, including brother Ethan, who could be the first pick in the draft?

“Yeah, it’s very exciting. Definitely a lot to look forward to in the next year and the next few months. It’s been a lot of fun to watch him go through kind of a similar process that I went through and meeting with teams. He’s doing a great job.”

Is it more relaxing and freeing this year knowing that you’ve been there and done that in the majors?

“I mean, a little bit. We’ve got a really great roster and I don’t think my mindset changes. I’m still trying to make the team and earn a spot and a starting spot. We have a really competitive team, but that’s my mindset going in is still competing for a job and trying to get better every day and still learn how to play second base at a high level. Like I said, I’m very excited for spring training to continue to get better.”

* Manager Brandon Hyde enters his seventh season trying for a third consecutive playoff appearance to match the 1969-71 teams that had fewer hoops to jump through to reach the World Series.

Hyde said he’s “really happy” with the roster.

“With this event, it’s great to see some of our guys,” he said. "I’ve been in Sarasota and seen some of our guys rehabbing down there. Guys are really excited for the season to start and excited where we’re at right now.”

The rotation is deep but lacking a proven, stud No. 1 starter with Corbin Burnes’ free agent departure. The Orioles signed veterans Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano, with a combined age of 76 years old.

“Definitely got some experience on the mound,” Hyde said.

“Bringing some guys back that we’re excited about with Grayson (Rodriguez) and Dean (Kremer) and (Zach) Eflin. Albert Suárez is here, Cade Povich is here. It’s going to be a really good competition in camp. I’m glad we brought some veteran guys in to help us out and looking forward to get going.”

Competition is  a good thing, and the Orioles can offer it.

“You saw what happened to us last year injury-wise,” Hyde said. “You see what’s happening around the league. I think as much depth as you can possibly have. You can never have enough pitching. Injuries are going to happen throughout a six-month season, a month-and-a-half of spring training and six month plus. So the competition in spring training is more than ever before here, but also, we’ve created some depth which is really, really important going forward.”

Sugano is making his U.S. debut after 12 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball.

“Watched some video on him,” Hyde said. “I know our video guys dove into it, as well as our pro scouting department and front office. I was on a couple of Zooms with him, one before he signed and one after he signed. It’s a really impressive guy. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s had some amazing years in Japan. I’ve never seen him throw, so looking forward to seeing him throw in spring training.”

* Burnes signed with the Diamondbacks in order to pitch closer to home. And he got paid really well to do it.

He took away the drama last spring in naming an Opening Day starter. No one else was in the running. But it’s going to be different now that he’s gone.

“We’ll kind of see where we are in spring training, but Opening Day starter hasn’t really … We’ve kind of joked around a little bit but nothing’s been solidified at this point," Hyde said.

* How do you replace Anthony Santander’s 44 home runs?

Don’t rely on one player to do it.

“You want to see other guys to step up that have the ability to hit for some more power,” Hyde said. “Also, you add Tyler O’Neill, who has had a nice power year the last few years. Guys like (Heston) Kjerstad are going to get more of an opportunity to have huge power, so I think we’ll supplement it in other ways.”

“You can’t replace Santander and Corbin,” said first baseman Ryan O’Hearn. “It’s not like a one-for-one replace type of thing. But if you look at the pieces that we added and some of these young guys have a chance to have breakout years - Jackson comes to mind. (Colton) Cowser, I think, is going to take another step. Obviously, we have guys who have already done some things, Gunnar (Henderson) and Adley (Rutschman) and all that.

“You look at the group as a whole, it’s a really good group of players. And it’s deep. There’s not really a weak link. From a position player side, there’s probably 15 guys who could make the team who can play and help us in the major leagues. It’s a really deep group, and if you look at it as a whole, it’s an impressive group and I’m excited to see what we can do.”

A power bat wasn’t the only loss with Santander accepting a five-year deal from the Blue Jays. He was a clubhouse leader and a very popular teammate.

“I spent a lot of time around him and hate to see him go,” Henderson said. “Happy for him, though, but hate to see him off our team. But wish him nothing but the best.”

* The Orioles exercised the $8 million option on O’Hearn’s contract. He didn’t think it was a foregone conclusion.

It became a huge relief.

“I wasn’t confident,” he said. “In this business you never really know, but I had hoped that I was coming back. I think I made it clear to Hyde and Mike (Elias) and everybody at the end there that I wanted to be back. So when I got the call I was extremely excited. Happy to be an O for another year. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of this team?”