Why Jackson Holliday Still Ranks No. 1 In Our Top 100 Prospects

Image credit: Jackson Holliday (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)

Jackson Holliday remains No. 1 for our May Top 100 Prospects update.

As we do every month in-season when we update our Top 100, we did discuss who should be No. 1, but there wasn’t all that much debate.

As rough as Holliday’s first 36 big league plate appearances were and his subsequent demotion, it doesn’t really change anything as far as his long-term assessment. He still projects as a plus or plus-plus hitter with exceptional plate discipline, developing power, speed on the bases and a plus glove at second base.

And the players right behind Holliday on the Top 100 are also having some growing pains at the major league level. Jackson Chourio is hitting .206 with a .257 on-base percentage. Evan Carter is hitting .221, although he does have five home runs. Wyatt Langford has a .623 OPS.

April has been an excellent reminder of how the jump from Triple-A to the majors can be a difficult one. Holliday found that out. It’s also one month. As we do our first in-season Top 100 update of the season, we’re trying to generally be cautious with how much we re-order this ranking. There’s plenty of useful information that can already be gathered from spring training and a month/or almost a month of games (depending on the level). But there’s also a danger of over-reacting to players who have a hot or cold start to the season. We’re trying to be careful to not over-react too quickly.

Holliday is only 20. There have only been 10 players from the 2022 MLB draft to reach the majors so far. Holliday is the lone high school draftee from that class to reach the majors—most of the other best prep prospects from that class are still in High-A or Double-A.

Holliday is back in Triple-A to reset, improve and return, but for now, he’s No. 1. By being sent back to the minors, it just means he’ll hold that title for a little bit longer than expected.