SARASOTA, Fla. — Colton Cowser wasn’t buying it and, to be fair, Jackson Holliday wasn’t doing himself any favors in defending the feat. The radar gun in the batting cage of the Holliday stronghold in Stillwater, Oklahoma, had read 110 mph after Holliday blasted a ball off a tee this winter.

“That had to be fake,” Cowser said in the Orioles clubhouse on the first day of spring training.

“It might’ve been a misread,” Holliday conceded.

Actually?

“I mean, most likely. I had one at 105, which is still … whatever,” Holliday said. “But 110 is — it could be a stretch. Or, I mean, it’s so real, you can quote it.”

Sure, we’ll quote it. Holliday hit a baseball off a batting tee at 110 mph — or somewhere around there. Maybe it was a tick slower than that (Holliday’s dad, former All-Star Matt Holliday, hit the ball at 101 mph in the video posted by Eric Sim on YouTube). The exact speed matters less than the fact Jackson Holliday feels — and looks — much stronger at the start of spring training.

“He still looks really young,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “But physically? Physically, his strength is impressive.”

At the end of last season, Holliday noticed he was growing tired and that his strength waned slightly. A baseball season is a grueling process, and Holliday was up and down between the majors and minors at various points. All the travel, the games, the stress — it wore on him.

Holliday said he finished the season at about 188 pounds. Almost immediately upon returning to Oklahoma, he and his dad “just did a bunch of stuff to try to make me look jacked.” Holliday was only partly joking.

“Just trying to stay as steady as possible is my goal. I worked hard in the offseason. I’m not going to just let that go in the season.”

Jackson Holliday

The first stretch of Holliday’s offseason involved “lifting heavy things” without much of a plan. But, as winter crept on, Holliday stuck to a routine designed in equal parts by his longtime trainer and the strength and conditioning staff with the Orioles. He has always been attentive to his diet — growing up around major leaguers does that — but Holliday increased his protein intake to match the elevated levels of workouts each day brought.

“A lot of ground beef and rice,” Holliday said. “I pretty much had ground beef for breakfast every day.”

For breakfast?

“I’m not a very good chef,” Holliday said, a reminder that he’s only 21. “I can make steak and ground beef, and that’s about it.”

It worked, apparently. Holliday entered camp Thursday weighing 200 pounds, and the ball is leaping off his bat faster than ever — no matter if 110 mph off the tee was a misread.

Even as a rookie, Holliday displayed deceptive strength. The ball left his bat at 95 mph or faster 45.1% of the time, according to Statcast. But Holliday knew there was room to grow, and the former first overall pick wants to maintain his strength throughout the long months of a baseball season.

“A lot of guys will build up in the offseason and deteriorate during the season and have to build back up. It’s just a constant up and down,” Holliday said. “Just trying to stay as steady as possible is my goal. I worked hard in the offseason. I’m not going to just let that go in the season. That’s something that’s important to me, and I know the strength staff here is on that as well. Obviously, it’s probably impossible to maintain it, but as close to I can, I’m going to try.”

He was also cognizant not to sacrifice speed in place of power. Holliday, whose 29.4-feet-per-second sprint speed ranks in the 95th percentile, worked on increasing his speed this winter. That could translate to his defense at second base, as well, as he continues to widen his range.

For much of his life, baseball has come easily. When Holliday arrived in the majors as a 20-year-old, there was a different outcome. He struck out 18 times and managed two hits in his first 10 games before he was optioned back to Triple-A Norfolk. And, once he returned, Holliday experienced additional setbacks.

But there are other moments that stand out in his mind, such as his grand slam against the Toronto Blue Jays during his first game back, or his three multi-hit games against the Cleveland Guardians. And, to close the season, Holliday finished with seven hits in his final 18 at-bats.

That was a positive upswing, building momentum into an offseason that featured plenty of weightlifting — and one eye-popping radar reading off the tee.

There was more to that final stretch of games that Holliday clings to than the hits he recorded, though. The Orioles had clinched a postseason berth. With that added freedom, Holliday played shortstop and hit leadoff a few times. And, after all the pressure and expectations that surrounded him, Holliday felt his muscles loosen.

“That was really fun for me, to go out there and really enjoy playing,” Holliday said. “I think that’s more of the mindset that I’m going to go into spring and the beginning of the season with, just having as much fun and playing as relaxed as I can.”