The number 1 player in baseball is in Norfolk. Here’s how it snaps. Virginia pilot

Norfolk – Jackson Holiday didn’t tell the hotel clerk to Google him Monday, but he had to do some convincing.

Newly promoted to Double-A Bowie’s Norfolk Tides, Holliday is with his fiancée while trying to check into a hotel in town. Problem: Holiday is only 19 years old, and the hotel requires that registered guests be at least 21 years old.

The other problem: the guy with the baby face looks like he’s barely out of his teens.

The hotel employee asked the couple about their situation.

“I just got called,” Holiday said. “We need a safe and nice hotel.”

The employee acquiesced and rented them a room, thus beginning the MVP baseball’s first night at Triple-A.

Holiday, the top pick in the 2022 draft by parent Baltimore Orioles and son of seven-time Major League All-Star player Matt Holiday, was playing high school baseball in Oklahoma last year. When he arrived at Norfolk, he reached his fourth level of regulation that season alone.

Entering Tuesday night’s game, when he was slated to lead and play shortstop in the Tides game, Holiday had batted . 328 with 11 home runs, 75 RBIs and 27 stolen bases over 127 professional games.

But his success does not explain his youth.

“I feel like he has to dissect a frog in anatomy somewhere,” said Norfolk manager Buck Britton, a former longtime minor league player. “He’s embarrassing. I couldn’t have been at that level to do what he’s doing at his age. Just an impressive guy. He’s been around the game for a long time. He’s got it, and the skill-set is obviously off the charts. So we’re excited.”

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Holliday signed for $8.19 million after hitting . 685 with 17 homers and 79 RBIs in just 40 games as a Stillwater High senior, and was named Major League Baseball’s National Player of the Year. He set a national high school record 89 hits that season.

But Holiday, who has learned to become completely comfortable speaking to sets of TV cameras and reporters as he has grown up, describes himself as a regular guy who loves watching TV series, fishing and playing golf.

“I’m just a regular kid who just happens to be really good at baseball,” he said. “It’s so crazy what happened in one year, but I’m so grateful.”

Fellow Norfolk prospect Kobe May spent little time with Holiday during spring training. Mayo thinks the hype is justified.

“I only got a small sample, but it’s clear he’s a really good player,” said Mayo, 21. “He’s got all five tools. I think just having him here will give a new spark and some new life because every new player you get in – especially if he’s going to be at the top of the squad – it’s going to be exciting just to have a new guy in the team.”

In just two seasons managing the Tides, Britton saw the best Orioles players come to Norfolk, thrive, and move up to the major leagues. Current Baltimore stars such as catcher Adele Rochman, Gunnar Henderson, and right fielder Grayson Rodriguez are among the Brittons’ recent alumni.

It remains to be seen if Holiday is next.

“This has not been discussed at my level,” Britton said. “Any time you get an exciting player with a lot of tools, you never know what can happen. But he’s here today, so we’ll rest him, let him play, let him adapt to that level and make the necessary adjustments, I’m sure.” It’s going to be quick for him. We’ll see what happens.”

When the Tides finished batting practice behind him, Holliday admitted he knew almost nothing about Hampton Roads. When asked to pronounce the name of the city, he used the flat “L” in “Norfolk”.

Like anything else at the Triple-A level, it is likely to learn.

Holiday said his mind doesn’t drift to what he might do otherwise or what his friends back home will do as they begin adulthood. After a childhood spent at major league clubs, there was never a doubt.

“This is what I dreamed of doing since I was young, so it was my only choice,” he said. “I didn’t really have a Plan B or anything like that. Baseball is kind of what I always planned to do.

And Britton, 37, has watched players like Mayo and Holiday get to younger and younger ages. It is an embarrassment of riches in a stacked organisation.

“You have a 19-year-old in the club,” said Britton. “I feel like I could almost be his father. That’s wild to me. But hopefully he’ll settle down and get some mature guys around him, and hopefully he’ll take that very well. But of course, we’ll make sure we do everything to make him comfortable.

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com. Twitter @DavidHallVP.