Taking a look at a few facts with some opinions, too

Time to take a look at a few facts that came out of the 2023 baseball season and see how some of them may play out in 2024. This is where our opinions come in.

Fact: No. 1-ranked prospect Jackson Holliday has played just one full minor league season and just 145 career games on the farm. He rose four levels last year, but played only 18 regular season games and four more in the playoffs for Triple-A Norfolk. Now he could make the 2024 Opening Day roster for the Orioles.

Opinion: O’s executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias got everyone’s attention at the Winter Meetings when asked if Holliday could make it to Baltimore for Opening Day.

"It's definitely a very strong possibility,” Elias said during an interview session in Nashville. “I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, but he had a historic first full season in the minors. Probably, you have to go back into, like, the '80s or '90s to find something similar to that, in my opinion, for an American kid out of high school. Got to Triple-A. Wasn’t there a huge amount of time, didn’t tear the cover off the ball, but he more than held his own and did well.”

As I have written a few times this offseason, sometimes teams just want to “get on with it” with a top prospect. They know the talent is immense and they move the youngster to the majors to complete his development while at the same time helping the big club. Holliday, as talented as he is and as mature as he is for age 20, is about at that point.

I suspect he will start at second base on Opening Day, making for a stunning double-play combo alongside Gunnar Henderson. That is going to be fun to watch. If he is not fully ready by the start of the season, he will be soon after that.

In the 2012 season, the Orioles promoted Manny Machado straight from Double-A Bowie, and he never played a game at Triple-A. In 2022, Julio Rodríguez began the year in the Mariners' starting lineup, and he also never played a game at Triple-A. As a player that rose to be ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the sport, Holliday has done something Machado and Rodriguez never did.

It just might be this kid’s time.

By the way, when Holliday makes the club and John Means starts, the O’s could sport a formidable lineup featuring all homegrown players, with Adley Rutschman catching Means. They could have Ryan Mountcastle at first, Holliday at second, Henderson at short and Jordan Westburg at third base. Austin Hays could start in left with Cedric Mullins in center. Right field and DH could be some combo of Colton Cowser, Heston Kjerstad, Ryan McKenna and Kyle Stowers.

That is a ton of homegrown talent.

Fact: The Orioles went the entire 2023 regular season without being swept, and they have now gone 91 consecutive series of at least two decisions (no ties) without being swept. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that is the fourth-longest streak in major league history, trailing the 1942-44 St. Louis Cardinals (124), 1906-09 Chicago Cubs (115), and 1903-05 New York Giants (105).

Opinion: So the Orioles are chasing history as next season begins. Or are they? The Rangers swept the O's in the playoffs on their way to the 2023 World Series title. Well, playoff stats don’t count, just as a player could not extend a hitting streak in the playoffs, or add to his homer total. So technically and officially, that streak lives. I can see this annoying some fans as reporters note the streak being extended if they are not swept each series as the 2024 season progresses.

It’s the same reason that right-hander Kyle Bradish will enter the new year with a 16-innings scoreless streak, despite allowing two runs in his playoff start against Texas.

Fact: The Orioles went 32-20 (.615) versus American League East teams and had a winning record against all other clubs in the division for the first time since the 2014 season.

Opinion: Is the balanced schedule (in which the O’s play fewer AL East games than in years past) now a bad thing for the club, since they are finally beating the AL East again? Well, not necessarily. While the O’s played .615 ball within the division, they played .627 ball (69-41) outside of it. Plus, they compete with all AL teams, not just the clubs in the East, for Wild Card spots and playoff seeding.

Fact: Ryan O’Hearn hit .289/.322/.480/.801 in 2023, and that produced an OPS+ of 121.

Opinion: Can O’Hearn do that again? It could be a challenge for a player that posted a .683 OPS in five seasons in Kansas City. Is he just a late bloomer? Well, maybe so, but he really seemed to click with the O’s hitting coaches, who are all back, so he has that going for him. And he certainly will be a key cog in this lineup until he proves he should not be. O’Hearn was huge for the '23 Orioles, and I would expect he will be given every chance next year to duplicate that.