For one, it’s another accolade in what has been a rapid rise in his first year of professional baseball. For another, it’s more validation that he’s making up for lost time.
The Orioles will have two representatives at the All-Star Futures Game in Seattle on July 8 at T-Mobile Park. Shortstop Jackson Holliday, the top overall pick from the 2022 draft, headlines the roster after a torrid start in minor league baseball that has seen him rise to High-A Aberdeen already. Baltimore’s second player is outfielder Heston Kjerstad, who has reached Triple-A Norfolk a year after making his professional debut.
For Kjerstad, the second overall pick of the 2020 draft, this is another positive step in a development path that was abruptly halted due to myocarditis, the inflammation of a heart muscle. He was away from baseball for over a year, but the 24-year-old lit up his first major league spring training camp this year and has impressed in the higher reaches of the minors.
Baltimore promoted Kjerstad to the Tides after he hit .310 with a .960 on-base-plus slugging percentage for Double-A Bowie. In those 46 games, he hit 11 home runs. Since reaching Triple-A, the Arkansas product is hitting .286 in 17 games.
Holliday’s placement on the Futures Game roster comes one day after MLB Pipeline ranked him as the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball. The son of All-Star Matt Holliday, he recently joined the Adam Jones Podcast and said growing up around the game benefited him immensely.
“Being able to have access to the big league clubhouse and being able to be around All-Stars every single year — honestly, every single day — is definitely an advantage,” Holliday said. “To be in nice complexes and to be able to play on good teams growing up, I’m very fortunate to have grown up how I grew up.”
In many ways, Holliday is still growing up. But he’s doing it with the spotlight firmly on him as he hits the leather off the ball early in his career. At Low-A Delmarva to begin the season, Holliday hit .396. In 49 games since his call-up to High-A Aberdeen, Holliday has a .937 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.
The All-Star Futures Game features top prospects from every major league team. The last two Futures Games have featured catcher Adley Rutschman (2021) and infielder Gunnar Henderson (2022), both of whom were top-ranked prospects before breaking through as key pieces on the Orioles.
Perhaps someday soon, Holliday and Kjerstad will join their predecessors in Baltimore.
