BALTIMORE (AP) — A day after the trade deadline, the Baltimore Orioles made another big addition.
And boy did he deliver.
Jackson Holliday connected for a fifth-inning grand slam for his first major league home run after being recalled from Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday for his second shot at the major leagues. Holliday, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft, made his big league debut earlier this season, but went 2 for 34 at the plate with 18 strikeouts and was sent back down.
“It was obviously sad to go back down, but got to go down there and make some adjustments and improve a little bit,” Holliday said before Wednesday’s game against Toronto. “Set myself up for second time around, so glad to be here.”
After grounding out his first two times up, Holliday hit a 439-foot drive to right field that was so obviously gone he paused a bit before starting his trot. Holliday then waved to the crowd from the dugout.
Holliday is emblematic of a Baltimore team that still feels it can use its farm system to provide direct help for the major league club — instead of simply trading prospects for established big leaguers. The Orioles did plenty of the latter as well, acquiring two starting pitchers, a couple bullpen arms and some potential help for the outfield before Tuesday's deadline.
But Baltimore didn't land a real top-of-the-rotation type of pitcher. Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell, for example, stayed with Detroit and San Francisco, and the Orioles held onto Holliday, catching prospect Samuel Basallo and minor league infield slugger Coby Mayo.
“Every time a ranking came out, Holliday, Basallo and Mayo were ranked higher and higher and higher,” general manager Mike Elias said. “You got three very young kids that are consensus top-15 prospects in all of baseball. The value on that makes it very hard to find something to trade them for that makes any sense.”
The Orioles lead the AL East but have also lost 19 of their last 34 games. With their wealth of young position players in both the majors and minors, they were a team that could have conceivably made a huge splash, but throughout baseball this was a deadline in which few big names moved.
Baltimore acquired Zach Eflin from Tampa Bay and Trevor Rogers from Miami, and both should join the rotation immediately. Perhaps just as importantly, both are still under team control next season, too.
“Some of the real crazy big names that people were throwing around didn't get traded at all,” Elias said. “I think all things considered we got two of the better starting pitchers available this deadline, and also they're controllable beyond this season.”
This was Baltimore's first trade deadline since new owner David Rubenstein took over the team at the beginning of this season, and it's noteworthy that the Orioles took on Eflin, who is due to make $18 million next year. Baltimore also traded for outfielder Eloy Jiménez, who is finishing up a $43 million, six-year deal that includes team options the next two seasons.
So that's a sign that spending could increase in Baltimore going forward.
“I think the ownership group is going to maximize the potential of this franchise," Elias said. "This is not New York City, this is not Los Angeles, but it is a really good baseball town with an extremely passionate, historic fan base and a beautiful stadium that we are going to not only renovate but hopefully monetize a lot better over the next few years.”
The 20-year-old Holliday, the son of former outfielder Matt Holliday, is No. 1 in MLB Pipeline's prospect ranking. Baltimore had room for him after sending infielder Connor Norby to Miami in the deal for Rogers. Infielder Jorge Mateo is not expected back for a while because of an elbow injury.
The Orioles optioned catcher Blake Hunt and utilityman Terrin Vavra to Norfolk.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday (7) throws to first baseman Ryan Mountcastle (6) for an out on a ground ball hit by Toronto Blue Jays' Spencer Horwitz during the first inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday (7) gets ready in the dugout before a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday fields a ground ball hit in by Toronto Blue Jays' Spencer Horwitz before throwing to first for an out during the first inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
FILE - Baltimore Orioles' Jackson Holliday works out before a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Baltimore. The Baltimore Orioles recalled the top-ranked prospect from Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, giving the infielder his second shot at the major leagues. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 22, 2025--
Accenture (NYSE:ACN) has made a strategic investment, through Accenture Ventures, in QuSecure ™ a leader in post-quantum cybersecurity. Together, Accenture and QuSecure offer comprehensive post-quantum crypto agility solutions to help government agencies and private sector businesses mitigate emerging quantum risks.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250122178713/en/
Headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., QuSecure is a privately held company founded in 2019. QuSecure’s QuProtect software offers an end-to-end quantum security-as-a-service architecture that combines zero-trust, next-generation quantum-resilient technology and crypto agility to protect networks, cloud systems, edge devices and satellite communications against today’s cyberattacks and future quantum threats, all with minimal disruption to existing systems.
“Organizations need a reliable, quantum-resilient cybersecurity solution that not only adheres to the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) post-quantum encryption standards but that can be easily integrated across all parts of a communications network,” said Tom Patterson, emerging technology security lead at Accenture. “We’re investing in trusted providers like QuSecure to help our clients future-proof their global networks today to protect high-risk data faster.”
Post-quantum encryption standards protect a variety of electronic information, such as private email messages and e-commerce transactions. NIST is advising computer system administrators to start transitioning to NIST’s newly released standards as quickly as possible. According to the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), the shift to crypto agility must start immediately and is a long-term strategy rather than a one-time implementation.
“In a progressively digital world, as AI and quantum threats to encryption evolve at an ever-faster pace, it is critical that we evolve from encryption management that requires several years to upgrade algorithms to orchestrated crypto agility—the ability to push a button and upgrade your entire system at once,” said Rebecca Krauthamer, co-founder and CEO of QuSecure. “The ability to orchestrate cryptography at the enterprise scale—swapping out cryptographic algorithms at any endpoint, anywhere—is critical to a robust cybersecurity strategy. QuSecure and Accenture have a shared vision to provide organizations with a long-term solution to upgrade and manage their encryption standards.”
In 2023, Accenture and QuSecure collaborated to establish the first successful multi-orbit data communications test secured with post-quantum cryptography (PQC), which refers to cryptographic methods that are secure against an attack by a quantum computer. This demonstrates that crypto agility, successfully rotating to a less vulnerable algorithm, is real and possible.
Recently, Banco Sabadell successfully completed a joint project with Accenture and QuSecure to explore the adoption of PQC technologies in the bank’s infrastructure. This project represents a significant step toward strengthening defenses against quantum attacks with Banco Sabadell employing QuSecure’s software for crypto agility to update encryption.
"Crypto agility is critical for the banking industry, allowing for the seamless integration of new cryptographic standards without the need to rebuild entire systems,” said Joan Puig, Group CISO of Banco Sabadell. “Our project, in collaboration with Accenture and QuSecure, enabled us to explore the impact of adopting post-quantum cryptography technologies on the bank's infrastructure. By embracing crypto agility and testing quantum technologies we’re ensuring our preparedness for the quantum future.”
To help maintain security in a post-quantum world, Accenture developed an eight-step roadmap to help clients secure their data and communications and is collaborating with companies like QuSecure. Working with other industry leaders, Accenture has designed a Quantum Security Maturity Index to give corporate boards and executives a way to measure their quantum security infrastructure against their peers and identify areas for improvement.
QuSecure will also join Accenture Ventures’ Project Spotlight, an engagement and investment program focused on working with companies that create or apply disruptive enterprise technologies. Project Spotlight offers extensive access to Accenture’s domain expertise and its enterprise clients, helping startups harness creativity and deliver on the promise of their technology. Additional cybersecurity, quantum security and space companies that have joined Project Spotlight include Reality Defender, Aliro Quantum and Tenchi Security.
For information on how Accenture is helping clients prepare today for post-quantum security visit us here: Quantum Security Services & Solutions | Accenture.
Terms of the investment were not disclosed.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with 799,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. Our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at accenture.com.
Accenture Security is a leading provider of end-to-end cybersecurity services, including strategy, protection, resilience and industry-specific cyber services. We bring security innovation, coupled with global scale and a worldwide delivery capability through our network of Cyber Fusion Centers. Helped by our team of 25,000+ highly skilled professionals, we enable clients to innovate safely, build cyber resilience and grow with confidence. Visit us at accenture.com/security.
About QuSecure
QuSecure is a leader in post-quantum cybersecurity with a mission to use the advent of quantum computing to act as a catalyst to fix the foundation of data security infrastructure. The company’s QuProtect software platform solution, available now, offers a comprehensive, end-to-end quantum-security-as-a-service architecture that delivers zero-trust, next-generation quantum-resilient technology, and crypto agility to protect networks, cloud systems, edge devices, end user, and satellite communications against today’s cyberattacks and future quantum threats, all with no rip and replace or disruption to existing systems. QuSecure is a proud Accenture Project Spotlight Company, and SBIR Phase III recipient. Book a Free PQC Ideation Workshop with us to get started on your PQC Migration and to take our QuProtect Software for a test drive. For more information, visit www.qusecure.com.
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Accenture and QuSecure Offer Post-Quantum Crypto Agility Solutions to Help Mitigate Emerging Quantum Risks (Graphic: Business Wire)