Jackson Holliday exits Triple-A rehab game with right hand discomfort

Jackson Holliday’s rehab hit another wall in Norfolk when the Orioles’ top prospect exited Tuesday’s game against Memphis with right hand discomfort after striking out on a foul tip in the first inning. What looked like a straightforward step toward a Baltimore return instead turned into another interruption, and the club said the next update on his status will depend on how his hand responds.

The setback matters because Norfolk was supposed to be the final staging ground for Holliday’s ramp-up. He went on rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk on March 27 in the season opener, then was pulled off the assignment earlier in April because of mild wrist soreness. Baltimore sent him back out on a new rehab stint at High-A Frederick, where he played two games, before returning him to Norfolk. Tuesday’s removal shows how thin the margin is for a hitter trying to rebuild strength and timing after hand surgery.

Holliday underwent surgery on Feb. 12 to repair a broken right hamate bone, an injury that can linger even after the operation itself is behind the player. The Orioles and MLB have described the issue as right wrist soreness and right hand discomfort, and the club has said that sort of irritation is not uncommon after hamate surgery. Even so, the timing is brutal. Holliday had already been close enough to return that the Orioles were trying to map out the last stretch of his rehab in Norfolk and Frederick, only for the process to stall again.

That uncertainty pushes back his path to Baltimore, where he was expected to open the season as the team’s second baseman after appearing in 149 games in 2025. Instead, the Orioles are left waiting for a fresh medical read and a new rehab plan, with no timetable yet for when Holliday can resume the assignment or rejoin the major league roster.

For Norfolk, the assignment had been about more than at-bats. It was the controlled environment Baltimore needed to judge whether Holliday’s bat speed, timing and grip strength had truly returned after surgery. Tuesday’s early exit is a reminder that rehab assignments for elite prospects are rarely linear, especially when the injury involves the hand. One foul tip and one inning were enough to send this return into another reset.