More on contributions from Holliday and Jiménez

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Jackson Holliday is the humble, hot-shot prospect whose ceiling reaches the clouds. Eloy Jiménez is the former Silver Slugger Award winner whose career trajectory threatened to bounce him off the floor.

They may have little in common but they’re doing tremendous work as teammates - and for different reasons.

Holliday appeared to be overwhelmed in his first attempt against major league pitching, with only two hits and 18 strikeouts in 34 at-bats. The expectations were unreasonable, no matter how much talent he carried to the Orioles. Holliday turned 20 in December and began the 2023 season in low Class A. He played in only 18 games with Triple-A Norfolk before the International League playoffs.

Anyone who thought he’d hit the ground running after the Orioles selected his contract on April 10 underestimated the difficulty in hitting at this level. He didn’t make it through the month.

Holliday 2.0 is a different player – more relaxed and confident, staying behind the ball with that perfect swing, just letting his talent play. And he’s making people who suggested that he be offered in trades at the deadline look even more foolish.

You do not relinquish a Jackson Holliday. You celebrate the wisdom in placing him atop the board with the first-overall pick in 2022, ahead of Druw Jones, Termarr Johnson, Elijah Green and Brooks Lee – the final five on the night of the draft. MLB Pipeline ranked him second. It was off by one.

Holliday was 9-for-24 with a double and three home runs since his return before going 0-for-4 with an RBI last night. He homered in three consecutive games, the youngest player to do it in history. It’s happened only 16 times by 12 players, per STATS.

The Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. homered in five straight games in Aug. 2018. The Marlins’ Miguel Cabrera homered in four straight in April 2004. The Nationals’ Juan Soto, the Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton, the San Francisco Giants’ Orlando Cepeda and the New York Giants’ Mel Ott had two three-game stretches in their respective seasons. They’re the duplicates on the list.

The exclusive club that Holliday joined also includes Willie Mays, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jason Heyward, Justin Upton and Eddie Miksis. The latter played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, if the name doesn’t ring a bell. He played in the majors for 14 seasons, including four games with the Orioles in 1957-58.

Holliday got halfway to the club record for most consecutive games with a home run shared by Reggie Jackson in 1976 and Chris Davis in 2012. Four players homered in five straight – Melvin Mora in 2005-06, Caleb Joseph (seriously) in 2014, Davis in 2016 and Jonathan Schoop 2018.

Home runs in four consecutive games has happened 24 times in Orioles history, most recently by Gunnar Henderson in May. Before Henderson were DJ Stewart in 2020 and Renato Nuñez in 2019. There’s also Jackie Brandt, Boog Powell, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Fred Lynn, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken Jr., Rafael Palmeiro (three times), Brady Anderson, Albert Belle, Jay Gibbons, Miguel Tejada, Luke Scott, Nolan Reimold, Davis (three times), Adam Jones and Manny Machado.

Injuries to Jorge Mateo and Jordan Westburg swung open the door for Holliday at second base. He is and should be the starter every night. Ramón Urías played his first inning at second base during the Blue Jays series and will spell Holliday again, especially if manager Brandon Hyde plays matchups again with an opposing left-hander. Hyde sent Austin Slater to the plate Tuesday night to pinch-hit for Holliday, which led to a bases-loaded walk and a controversy that intensified with Coby Mayo batting for Colton Cowser.

Slater has a career .275/.367/.435 line against left-handers. Holliday is 1-for-7 but he isn’t here to platoon.

“I know talking to Gunnar, he had similar situations early in his career,” Holliday told the assembled media in Toronto. “But Slater had an awesome at-bat and drew a walk and scored a run. So that’s the goal, right? You want to be a player that can come up in any at-bat and produce, but obviously I understand the decision.”

Jiménez was viewed as a platoon guy from the second that the trade with the White Sox was announced. He’d get his at-bats as the designated hitter versus left-handers. Well, he was in the lineup for four consecutive games before striking out last night as a pinch-hitter.

Performance drives these decisions. Jiménez is 8-for-17 with two doubles and four RBIs since the trade. Per STATS, he’s the first Oriole to collect at least eight hits and four RBIs in his first five games with the team since Tim Beckham in 2017. Delmon Young did it in 2014.

Beckham hit .394/.417/.646 in 29 games in August and .180/.255/.348 in 21 games in September.

Young had a double in the American League Division Series that fans and media still talk about.

The Rays list their starters for the weekend series as right-hander Zack Littell, TBA and left-hander Jeffrey Springs, which pretty much guarantees Jiménez at least one start at designated hitter. The Orioles are starting former Rays pitcher Zach Eflin, Corbin Burnes and Albert Suárez.

Suárez replaces injured right-hander Grayson Rodriguez in the rotation.

The Orioles and Yankees remained tied for first place after both teams lost last night.