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Jackson Holliday will be first Oriole to wear No. 7 since 1988; Ripken family responds

jack mckessy, usa today
·3 min read
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Baltimore Orioles top prospect Jackson Holliday will wear No. 7 with the MLB club, the team announced Wednesday.

Holliday, 20, got the call to the majors on Wednesday. He will become the first player to wear the No. 7 jersey for the Orioles since Bill Ripken in 1988 and the seventh player to wear it in team history.

The number had been unofficially retired since former Orioles manager and coach Cal Ripken Sr. died in 1999.

Holliday's choice of number also follows in the footsteps of his father, seven-time MLB All-Star Matt Holliday, who wore it with the St. Louis Cardinals from 2010-2016.

Jul 27, 2022; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles number one draft pick Jackson Holliday walks on the field during the batting practice before the game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Holliday was the number one over draft pick in the 2022 MLB Draft. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 27, 2022; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles number one draft pick Jackson Holliday walks on the field during the batting practice before the game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Holliday was the number one over draft pick in the 2022 MLB Draft. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Jackson Holliday: Baltimore Orioles calling up baseball's No. 1 prospect

Ripken family "thrilled" to watch Jackson Holliday wear No. 7

Cal Ripken Jr. was quick to dismiss any concerns that his family might be upset about Holliday's choice of number.

"Our family is thrilled that [Jackson Holliday] will be wearing dad's #7 … Excited to watch him play!" he wrote on social media platform X.

Cal Jr.'s brother, Bill, concurred with the sentiment when asked for his thoughts on MLB Network show "MLB Central."

"I'm all on board with it," he said.

Orioles' young stars: Next man up: MLB's top prospect Jackson Holliday joins in

Jackson Holliday career

The Orioles selected Jackson Holliday with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft. Since then, he's risen up the ranks of the Minor Leagues at a torrid pace to become MLB Pipeline's No. 1 overall prospect by the start of this season.

Through 10 games in Triple-A this year, Holliday slashed .333/.482/.595 with two home runs and five doubles making up half of his 14 total hits.

He is projected to slot into the lineup at second base next to 22-year-old shortstop Gunnar Henderson, the 2023 American League Rookie of the Year.

Watch: Jackson Holliday hears he's been called up

Baltimore Orioles next game

The Orioles play the second game in their series against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday at 6:10 p.m. ET. The team returns home to play the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday at 6:10 p.m. ET.

Jackson Holliday fun facts

  • When Holliday makes his MLB debut, he will be the second-youngest player in the major leagues. The other two players rounding out MLB's youngest three, coincidentally, are also named Jackson: the Brewers' Jackson Chourio and the San Diego Padres' Jackson Merrill.

  • ESPN MLB reporter Buster Olney (kind of) predicted this moment back in 2013, when Holliday was nine years old. "Matt Holliday's son: Future All-Star," he wrote on X (then-Twitter) 11 years ago.

Notably, Matt Holliday has another son, Ethan, who was six years old at the time and may be a top pick in the 2025 MLB Draft.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jackson Holliday: Cal Ripken Jr. 'thrilled' about newest Oriole's number