Rockies Selection of Ethan Holliday in MLB Draft Receives Warranted Praise

The Colorado Rockies were a big winner in the 2025 MLB draft by selecting Ethan Holliday.

Steve Sisney / USA TODAY NETWORK

There isn’t a team in baseball that needed something to go right during the 2025 MLB draft more than the Colorado Rockies.

They haven’t given their fan base much of anything to get excited about in recent years when it comes to developing prospects in their system.

The last 14 first-round picks the Rockies have made have combined to produce an fWAR of minus-2.0. That is a major reason why the team is stuck in the position it is currently in, on pace to break the single-season record for losses of 121 that was set by the Chicago White Sox just last year.

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However, their luck could finally be turning after landing high school shortstop Ethan Holliday with the No. 4 overall pick in the draft.

It is a feel-good story for the franchise, calling his name 27 years after his father, Matt Holliday, was selected in the seventh round of the 1998 MLB draft.

Colorado can only hope this is a “like father, like son” situation, as the elder Holliday was a star for the Rockies, making the National League All-Star Team three times in five seasons before being traded to the Oakland Athletics during his sixth campaign.

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Landing the Stillwater High School product was a selection lauded almost universally, with some analysts having Holliday as the No. 1-ranked player in this year’s class.

Colorado scooping him up at No. 4 was the favorite selection of Alden Gonzalez on ESPN on Day 1.

“The Rockies have done a lot of things wrong over these last few ... uh, decades. But it was really cool to see them take Ethan Holliday at No. 4 after his father, Matt, starred in Colorado for so long,” he wrote.

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The younger brother of Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 MLB draft, wasted no time working his way through the minor leagues to make his big league debut.

In 2024, he played with the Orioles and had mixed results, but has taken his production to another level in 2025.

Colorado can only hope that the younger Holliday has a similar ascension and is blasting balls around Coors Field in the near future as a centerpiece building block for the franchise.

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