Orioles phenom Jackson Holliday breaks down his 1-for-30 start to MLB career

ANAHEIM, Calif. — It was about three hours before first pitch inside the visitors clubhouse at Angel Stadium. Jackson Holliday was sitting in a large reclinable armchair facing a television tuned to MLB Network.

The channel’s segment? One that just happened to be focused on him. For years, the baby-faced 20-year-old has only been talked about in the context of his phenom status. On a team full of great young players, his call-up was still transcendent.

But that conversation has quickly shifted, at least temporarily. The major-league dream has turned into a slightly less comfortable reality for the Baltimore Orioles second baseman.

“Whenever you’re struggling a little bit, you just start searching,” Holliday told The Athletic on Monday. “And start creating little habits. I’m just making some adjustments, because you got to. It’s a lot more difficult than Triple A.

“I don’t think there’s very many people in the big leagues who haven’t struggled. It just happens to be at the beginning.”

Holliday has started his MLB career 1-for-30. He’s struck out 16 times, and has two walks. He’s whiffed on half the pitches that he’s swung at thus far. It’s been an ugly start to a career that everyone expects will improve.

For now, the Orioles will be patient. Though with their sights set on winning the sport’s toughest division for a second consecutive year, they’ll need to balance what’s best for Holliday with what’s best for the whole team.

The coaches have worked with Holliday on his mechanics, making sure he’s capable of catching up to fastballs, while everyone in his orbit has tried to keep him level mentally, making sure he doesn’t spiral.

“It’s not easy on this stage to not get off to the start that you want to,” said Orioles manager Brandon Hyde. “Especially if you’re 20 and you have one year of professional experience. You just try to put your arm around him. Try to make sure that he’s OK mentally. He’s just trying to do a little too much. He’s trying to get a hit. He’s trying to produce.

“It’s about being process oriented. As hard as that can possibly be when you look up at the scoreboard and see what your batting average is.”

Orioles hitting coach Ryan Fuller said the staff is trying to strike a balance between addressing things mechanically, while not throwing too much at him. They want to make sure he’s able to cover high fastballs, and breaking balls lower in the zone.

In particular, they’re working with him on his leg kick to make sure it gets down in time to still make contact. The staff is also doing work on pitch recognition. Holliday said he feels like his offense is turning for the better, and hopes the results soon reflect it.

All of this is new for Holliday; he has never failed at any level. He hit .685 as a senior in high school, and that was just two years ago. He posted a .911 OPS in his first 20 minor league games later that summer, then a .941 OPS across all four minor league levels last year. His 1.077 OPS in 10 games with Triple-A Norfolk this year led to his big league call-up.

He’s dominated everywhere he’s been. But the MLB experience is like nothing else.

“There’s a process that you go through in the big leagues,” Fuller said. “It’s the jungle. And no matter what you have done in the minor leagues, when you come up here, there’s external pressure. You’ve got cameras in your face at all times. It’s just a higher level. He’s going to be fine. He’s here for a reason.”

Holliday has remained in the lineup and manned second base most days since his April 10 call-up. (Brian Fluharty / Getty Images)

By all accounts, Holliday has remained level-headed and realistic about his plight. The .033 batting average might be painful to look at, but any reasonable person can recognize the sample is small.

Holliday is introspective about the situation. Even at such a young age, he welcomed the questions posed to him and responded with genuine thoughtfulness. While he said he’s feeling better in the box, he won’t sugarcoat the toll that this start has had on him.

“Obviously I wasn’t expecting this,” Holliday said. “I knew what I was getting myself into. It’s the best of the best of the best for a reason. I guess I haven’t had a challenge yet, and this is the first one. … It’s obviously challenging, but I feel like I’m handling it the best that I can.”

Holliday is not the only potential star to experience this. Houston Astros star third baseman Alex Bregman, a No. 2 overall pick in his own right, started his big league career 1-for-32 in 2016. Holliday’s teammate Colton Cowser, the No. 5 pick the year before Holliday, was hitting .115 when he was optioned a little over a month into his MLB career.

Bregman is a two-time All-Star and two-time World Champion. Cowser’s got a 1.195 OPS to start this season. He’s been Baltimore’s best hitter. The point is that these 30 at-bats aren’t a barometer of what’s to come.

What the Orioles have to assess, however, is whether they are a barometer for where Holliday is now, and how ready he is to compete on a team with grand ambitions. Baltimore had to send down Cowser last year, but, for now, would still like to avoid that with Holliday.

“I think you can learn from anything, especially failure,” Holliday said. “Definitely something I’ll look back on in a few years and be thankful for.”

“Thirty at-bats feels like 500 right now,” Fuller said. “Thirty at-bats when you have a good track record is not a big deal. … We’ve all been there, where you’re struggling then you get that one sign that, ‘Yeah, I belong here. Things are good.’ In any career path. Hopefully that happens (soon).”

Holliday has put just two balls in play at over 100 mph — one of which was his lone single on April 14 against the Milwaukee Brewers’ Abner Uribe. For the most part, it’s been softer contact and a lot of strikeouts.

But in his final at-bat on Sunday afternoon in Kansas City, Holiday worked a five-pitch walk, taking the last two fastballs outside. It was an otherwise meaningless ninth-inning at-bat in a 5-0 Orioles win, but for Holliday, he felt like it was the smallest sign that he was turning the corner.

“This is the game that I love to play,” Holliday said. “It’s challenging. But I think having a good mindset of who I really am, that’s been really helpful for me. Part of baseball is failing. It’s been a grind, but I’m thankful for it.

“The last at-bat I walked. That’s what I’m going off of — 0-for-0 with a walk in my last at-bat.”

(Photo: Greg Fiume / Getty Images)