Red Sox Infielder Gives Advice To No. 1 MLB Prospect Jackson Holliday

Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday, who is also the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball, made his much-anticipated MLB debut at Fenway Park on Wednesday night.

Boston Red Sox infielder Vaughn Grissom knows what it’s like to be in Holliday’s shoes.

It was almost two years ago that Grissom took the field for the first time in the big leagues. He did so as a member of the Atlanta Braves against the Red Sox at Fenway.

Grissom, who currently is on the injured list due to a groin strain, was excited to see Holliday debut and also wanted to pass on some advice to the 20-year-old phenom.

“I definitely wanted to let him know it’s the same game, and slow it down and whatnot,” Grissom told the Boston Herald’s Gabrielle Starr, “and just be who you are, because I’m sure we’re gonna see tonight, he’s a good ball player. I just want him to do what he’s capable of.”

The Orioles selected Holliday, who is the son of seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday, first overall in the 2022 draft out of high school and he has skyrocketed up Baltimore’s farm system ever since.

Holliday possesses a five-tool skill set, but Grissom jokingly hoped he didn’t put it all on display against the Red Sox. That’s due to personal reasons for Grissom, who was the youngest player in MLB history to homer and steal a base in his debut.

“I was gonna tell him, if you hit a home run, do not (expletive) steal, because that record’s mine,” Grissom said. “Maybe you can steal but not hit a homer. … He needs to pick on them he wants to do, but he can’t do ’em both, that’s me.”

Holliday did flash his glove by starting an inning-ending double play off the bat of Masataka Yoshida to close out the bottom of the second, but Grissom’s record remained intact midway through the contest.

Holliday struck out swinging on a sweeper up in the zone in his first at-bat in the majors against Kutter Crawford. He grounded into a fielder’s choice in his second at-bat. But he’ll get plenty more chances to showcase his tremendous bat in his career.