Orioles select Jackson Holliday with first pick of 2022 MLB Draft

The Baltimore Orioles tonight selected infielder Jackson Holliday from Stillwater High School (OK) with the first overall selection of the 2022 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.  

Holliday, 18, hit .685/.749/1.392 (89-for-130) with 29 doubles, six triples, 17 home runs, 74 runs scored, 79 RBI, and 30 stolen bases in 40 games during his senior season and was named a Preseason Second-Team All-American by Baseball America and Perfect Game before the year. The 89 hits set a national high school record for hits in a single season, surpassing the previous record of 88 set by J.T. Realmuto in 2010. Holliday’s season led to him being selected as the Gatorade Oklahoma Baseball Player of the Year and Baseball America’s High School Player of the Year. He was named the top player in Oklahoma by Perfect Game, No. 2 overall draft prospect by MLB.com, and No. 3 prospect by Baseball America.

A four-year starter for the Pioneers, Holliday hit .500 (62-for-124) with 16 doubles, six triples, six home runs, 54 runs scored, 57 RBI, and 19 stolen bases in 37 games as a junior and was named to USA Baseball’s 18U National Team in 2021. He batted .318 (7-for-22) with four doubles, one triple, 10 runs scored, nine RBI, and six stolen bases in a pandemic-shortened sophomore season in 2020, and .342 (38-for-111) with 11 doubles, two triples, one home run, 28 runs scored, 35 RBI, and nine stolen bases as a freshman.

Jackson is the son of MLB veteran Matt Holliday, who played 15 seasons for the Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland Athletics, and New York Yankees. Matt was a seven-time All-Star from 2004-18 and originally selected by Colorado in the seventh round of the 1998 First-Year Player Draft out of Stillwater High School (OK).

Holliday becomes the first high schooler taken by the Orioles in the first round since right-handed pitcher Grayson Rodriguez (No. 11 overall) in 2018, and the first high school position player taken by the Orioles in the first round since infielder Ryan Mountcastle (No. 36 overall) in 2015. The Orioles have had the number one overall selection twice before in club history: in 2019, when they selected catcher Adley Rutschman out of Oregon State University, and in 1989, when they selected right-handed pitcher Ben McDonald out of Louisiana State University. It is the first time the Orioles have had picks in the top five in four straight years since they had a top-five pick in six consecutive years from 2007-12. Holliday is the first prep No. 1 pick since Minnesota selected Royce Lewis in 2017 out of JSerra Catholic High School (CA) and the first prep No. 1 ever from Oklahoma.

The 2022 MLB First-Year Player Draft continues tonight with the completion of Round 1, two first-round Compensation Picks, Competitive Balance Round A, Round 2, Competitive Balance Round B, and six second-round Compensation Picks. The Orioles will make three additional selections tonight, with the No. 33, No. 42, and No. 67 picks. The Draft will continue Monday, July 18, with Rounds 3-10 on MLB.com, beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET, and conclude on Tuesday, July 19, on MLB.com with Rounds 11-20 starting at 2:00 p.m. ET.