Even though the Hollidays hail from Stillwater, Okla., they are not about to ride a pack of dogs and go play for the hometown Pokes. Matt Holliday signed with the Colorado Rockies out of high school as a seventh-round pick in 1998. His oldest son Jackson Holliday was the No. 1 overall pick by the Baltimore Orioles only a few years ago in 2022. Now his younger son Ethan Holliday will be up next.
With Ethan Holliday forecasted to be a top-five pick in the upcoming 2025 MLB Draft, he may be able to play for one of the teams his father starred for, but that requires the more dysfunctional one to pass over him. Yes, the Rockies have the No. 4 overall pick this spring. They seem to be willing to overpay when it comes to slot value. But look who is picking next at No. 5: the St. Louis Cardinals!
Of course, teams picking ahead of the Rockies and Cardinals such as the Washington Nationals, the Los Angeles Angels and the Seattle Mariners all must pass on Holliday first, but that seems increasingly likely. Even though Matt Holliday had his best professional seasons in Denver and St. Louis, one franchise has won more World Series out of the National League than anyone, while one has only ever played in one before.
The question now is will the Hollidays do what is right by Ethan, and keep him away from the Rockies?
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Should the Hollidays do what the Mannings did to the Chargers?
Every sport is different, but I do not think it is going to be as high-profile as what happened when Eli Manning was taken No. 1 overall in the 2004 NFL Draft by the then-San Diego Chargers. What you have to remember is Eli was out of eligibility at Ole Miss and had no other option but to force a trade. He was shipped to the New York Giants in a packaged deal that brought Philip Rivers to the Chargers.
For all intents and purposes, Holliday could just go play at Oklahoma State for the next three years if he really does not want to go to the Rockies, or any other bad MLB team for that matter. What I will say is that the Rockies were very good to his father many years ago. Again, the Rockies were a far better run operation back then. St. Louis has been better before, but the Cardinals are rarely down.
To tie a bow on this, the Hollidays would have to make a really big stink about Ethan playing for the Rockies organization to avoid him from going there. It would be an "oh nevermind ..." situation. He may be that good of a prospect, but that could be a giant target on his back for being a brat. Eli Manning had to deal with this too, but thankfully, he walked ass backwards into winning a pair of Super Bowls!
Overall, I just struggle to see the Hollidays being that difficult in orchestrating when and where their son goes. If it is Colorado, then he may wear that No. 4 overall selection with a badge of honor. Maybe he can be the reason Colorado goes back to the World Series for the first time since his dad played in Denver one day? Then again, he might have an easier time winning a World Series playing in St. Louis.
It is not in my nature to pull an Eli, but there are a different circumstances at play for Ethan Holliday.