There was a time last spring when an interim Orioles skipper revealed the depths of how overmatched he was by declaring then-struggling Jackson Holliday as the team leadoff guy into perpetuity, or something close to it.The comments were bizarre, and did nothing to help Holliday in the short or long term. It’s wild to think back on the Tony Mansolino experiment, and how much of a smarter, adjusted and steadier manager he was, somehow, than the puppet failed baseball exec Mike Elias picked to replace him. And as much as I didn’t like these comments at the time, the Orioles are back to riding Holliday at leadoff a year later, and I’m largely here for it.This kid was a first-overall pick and Elias just sent his first top-overall pick to Boston for a bunch of teenagers. Holliday has made significant and telling alterations to his approach and alignment at the plate and given how awful this lineup has been 1-5 all season, this is the right time to see if his all-field attitude and speed will play and help get the offense moving.He is clearly trying to lean into contact over power and getting on base – you tend to think his father, former All Star Matt Holliday, might have a lot to do with the corrections – and with walk-machine Taylor Ward traded and Gunnar Henderson’s season a wasteland, might as well see what Jackson can do here. (And we remain steadfast in wanting to see Holliday try to learn centerfield in the offseason).“He’s been great for us and he’s only getting better,” manager Craig Albernaz said of Holliday during the just-concluded series in St. Louis.A Work In ProgressHolliday was struggling mightily when given opportunities at the top of the lineup sporadically this season. Lately, he has been more empowered there, and perhaps will take to it. It’s worth finding out at this point given the other options, and him up there against righties at the very least is worth a shot.Holliday did have five his in the last series, a triumphant return to St. Louis where he grew up watching his dad play (and this road trip concludes in Colorado, where his dad also starred), with five hits. He fell into a rut this month, for sure, and hopefully having some certainty about being in this spot in the order will help.Above and beyond anything else, this kid needs to get on base. Period. The 22-year-old has the wheels to create problems if he does, and with Pete Alonso the most prodigious slugger in baseball the last three weeks and no one else besides Christian Encarnacion-Strand doing much, it’s even more imperative than ever.Part of what had me most excited about Holliday’s swing changes was his on-base percentage getting up to .350 during the previous 10-game road trip. Heading into play Friday it sits at .322. He’s gone seven games without a walk and has one free pass in the last 10 games.I’m not getting caught up in the power right now. If he can get this on-base issue righted – and the Orioles are facing literally the worst MLB pitching on the planet for the remainer of this series – and set the table and lean into that part of his skillset, we have a foundation to build on for next season.This isn’t Mansolino territory – no one should be married to the idea of him having to bat leadoff every night and no one should make any public proclamations about it. But let it roll for the rest of this road trip, maybe tell him privately that’s the plan, and let’s see if that can help the youngster finish with a stronger September than his August turned out to be.Subscribe To "The Daily Flock" On YouTube For The Most Passionate Orioles Coverage:Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow