Holliday's 1st career HR is a monster slam out of Camden Yards

7:30 PM UTC

BALTIMORE -- said Wednesday morning that he felt “more prepared” heading into the start of his second big league stint with the Orioles.

Then, the 20-year-old went out and proved it with easily the most impressive moment of his MLB career thus far.

Holliday walloped a grand slam for his first big league home run in the fifth inning of Baltimore’s 10-4 series finale win over Toronto at Camden Yards on Wednesday afternoon. The homer left the bat of MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 overall prospect at 109.2 mph, per Statcast, and it traveled a projected 439 feet past the right-field flag court and onto Eutaw Street.

It was the seventh Eutaw Street home run of the season, the fifth by an Orioles player. Of the 129 total home runs hit to Eutaw Street, only two have been a player's first career home run, with Holliday joining the Astros' Robbie Grossman (July 31, 2013) and becoming the first Oriole to accomplish the feat.

Holliday is the third player in Orioles history (since 1954) to hit a grand slam for his first MLB home run, joining Frank Baker (Sept. 28, 1973) and Fritz Connally (April 19, 1985).

In Holliday’s initial 10-game MLB stint in April, he went 2-for-34 with 18 strikeouts, and both of his hits were singles. On Wednesday, he opened the game with a pair of groundouts in the second and fourth innings, each coming on the second pitch of the at-bat.

After Holliday stepped to the plate with the bases full in the fifth, he quickly fell behind, 0-2, against Blue Jays right-hander Yerry Rodríguez. Holliday then pounced on an inside slider that caught too much of the plate and belted it for the biggest home run of his life, which extended the O’s lead to 8-3.

Holliday came inches from hitting his second career homer in his next at-bat in the sixth inning, lining an 0-1 fastball just to the side of the left-field foul pole. The call was reviewed but ultimately stood as foul, and Holliday struck out on the next pitch.

It was an encouraging start to the 2022 No. 1 overall Draft pick’s second stint in the Majors, and it could be a sign of what’s to come over the final two months of the season (and beyond).