Jackson Holliday Is On Fire And Apparently It's All Thanks To A "Golden Tee" Arcade Game In The Guardians Visitor's Clubhouse (BONUS: Ranking The Top Bar Video Games)
Bad news if you're an opposing team in MLB, Jackson Holliday has found his swing and is playing awesome baseball. We all remember his awful stint in the bigs early on when he came up and went 2-34 with 18 strikeouts in 10 games. Lot of hot takes went flying, people thought he got his power taken by the Monstars, they thought he just flat out lost it all. Turns out those people were flat out wrong and all he needed was a little more seasoning.
He came back up on Wednesday and hit his first home run, a 439 foot grand slam, and hasn't looked back. He's smoking the ball, 11 of his last 13 balls put in play have been hard hit (95 MPH or above) and he's showing us how good of a hitter he actually is. Imagine writing a 20 year old off because he had 10 bad games? But who or what deserves the credit for Jackson's resurgence? Coaching? More comfortable? Better rest? Nope. Golden Tee.
Yup, the same golf arcade game that you and your buddies flood with dollar bills in-between chomping on wings is the reason Jackson is hitting almost .400 since he came back up. 7-18 with 2 home runs, a double, 2 walks, 5 runs scored and 5 strikeouts in 5 games. Literally all because of Golden Tee. 3 straight multi-hit games too, the kid is putting on a show.
Holliday also said he got a hole-in-one on a Par 5 which really just shows off his power. Just like any normal 20 year old, sometimes when things aren't going well you just need to relax and play some video games. Blow off some steam and get back to your usual self.
They have a Golden Tee machine in Norfolk where the O's AAA team is and Jackson said he started playing it down there, all he's done since spinning that ball is play awesome baseball so it's only fair to credit the game with his bounce back. MLB.com's Jake Rill reported that Jackson Holliday set 3 course records on the Cleveland machine this weekend, a -26 at Baja Ria, -23 at Hidden Temple and -23 at Monte Zeballos. The kid goes low. This is very, very relatable for anyone who has ever spent a night out at Wayward or The Chasseur in Baltimore. Sometimes you just need to shoot 10 under to get your night going. It's obviously great to see Jackson play well in his return, but I love the fact that he didn't say it was a swing adjustment, or a new game plan. No new approach or anything at the plate, he's on fire strictly because of Golden Tee.
So shoutout to the Guardians for placing that machine in your clubhouse. I don't know why you would supply your visitors with things to make them more comfortable but it seemed to kickstart little Jackie and his weekend. I think the Orioles actually have to go get a Golden Tee machine and put it in the home clubhouse in Baltimore, that way Holliday can play anytime he wants and stay hot. If he's on a cold streak, like a 2-20 or something maybe he can run into the clubhouse before he's up, put some quarters in and shoot a quick 20 under to get his mojo back? Just a thought. Jackson finally found that good luck charm and it comes in the form of an arcade game, he really is still a kid.
PS. Quick ranking of the top 5 bar arcade games
1. Big Buck Hunter
2. Photohunt (Shout Out Pub Dog)
3. Daytona USA
4. Skeeball
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Turtles in Time