Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, it's like fatherlike son. Ethan Holiday, son of former
Rockies star Matt Holliday, selected by the Colorado Rockies with
the fourth overall pick in the twenty twenty five MLB Draft.
This marks a continuation of the Holiday family's connection to
the Rockies, as Matt Holliday was also drafted by the
Tweet team in nineteen ninety eight. Ethan a high school
shortstop highly regarded for his power hitting and is considered
(00:23):
a top prospect and joining it.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Town in the Ka Commas prior of Health Hotline Rockies
writer for MLB dot Com, It's Thomas Harding, Thomas, glad
to have you on with us this morning. Is this
knowing and believing in the Holiday gene pool or is
the younger Holiday? Is this a legit talent?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Well, the younger Holiday was the number one draft prospect
going into this and the baseball draft is a little
bit different because hems have various priorities. I could see
what the Washington Nationals were doing. They drafted a shortstop
raction was a little bit younger from the state of Oklahoma.
But they're also spreading their bonus money because they have
(00:59):
a picks the Rockies. They knew Ethan Holiday was the
best player. The next two teams the college pitchers. So
there are teams that will take college pitchers no matter
who the high school guy is. So that's why Ethan
Holiday fell to the Rockies. It wasn't that the Rockies were,
you know, drafting the guy because of his last name.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Thomas walk us through a little bit of the steps
of how the baseball draft process works, because first off,
Ethan is eighteen years old, he's now part of the
Rockies organization. But where does he start? Where does he
go from here?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Well, usually process they'll sign and sometimes they will put
them in the Arizona Complex League, which is a league
of younger players a lot from the Latin American programs.
But usually if it's an American drafted, drafted high and
maybe they're a little more acclimated, they'll go to Fresno,
which is the single eight team, the low eight team
(01:53):
for the Rockies. But there have been a few draft
picks that they have put in I know the last
couple of years they've done it. They've put them in
spoke Can which is usually against guys who've come out
of college. So the baseball draft, you can get your
draft guys coming out of high school or at some
point in their college career, usually after the third season.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I've seen a lot of guys that have gotten drafted
but really want to go to college drop because it
looks like it's actually fun and a competitive brand of ball. Thomas,
do we know if Ethan wants to go to college
and play ball there.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
For a while, Well, if you would go to college,
it would be for his uncle. And the answer is
unaspivoicable no. Because there is so much money. That's the
top part of a draft. I know, there's all those
picks are slot in. The Rockies for all of their picks,
they have fifteen million dollars to distribute, and I can't
remember exactly what the slot was for the number four
(02:43):
overall pick, but there was stock going into the draft
that while the Nationals were talking about going underslot, the
Rockies would go slightly over for their top pick and
save money or maybe some of the picks behind it.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Thomas, is it fair to compare him to his brother Jackson?
Is he a better player or they just different skill sets?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Really, the comparison, if you look at the body type,
is to his dad. Jackson is a little shorter, about
three years of shorter, maybe even four inches shorter, and
more of a slender build. Each then looks a lot
like his dad, And I remember that when his dad
was nineteen years old in spring training, he was still
growing and he ended up sixty four and two hundred
(03:22):
and forty pounds. At that time, he was a third baseman,
But the Rockies figured that it would be better to
get him out of the infield and into the outfield
because of the build, the power that he had, and hey,
when you've got a bat like that, you put him
in the corner, either infield or outfield, depending what he
does defensively. My question about Ethan and he stayed shortstop
(03:43):
because he's right now listed fourteenth twenty. He does play
that position pretty well for high school guy, but he
has played third. He played third when his brother played
shortstop in high school. So what will happen with him?
Will he end up at third baseman? Will he moved
to the outfield? Can't he stay at shortstop? My first
my immediate thought is put him in some corner of
(04:04):
the outfield and let him hit home runs.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Thomas. We're asking our listeners on social media how they
feel about the pick of Ethan Holiday, seventy two percent
say yes. It seems like a lot of people are
excited and love the pictures of seeing him when he
was young with his dad. But we do have a
listener too, that tongue in cheek said, well can we
draft new owners? So when we look at it in
just an overall fan base perspective, is this enough to
(04:28):
energize the fan base and get people to say, Okay, wait,
we see something good coming out of this.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
You generally, fan basis don't get energized until a team
starts winning. I mean, I think any kind of poll
about the Rockies right now, there will be a significant
number of people who will say yeah. But but the
truth of the matter is the future for an eighteen
year old is wrought with some danger there. But if
(04:55):
you look at Matt Holiday and then and then a
sud Jackson, they know this process, and I think that
makes a difference. That's why you see a lot of
sons of big leaguers draft at high in the draft,
because it's not just it's not just the ability, but
also they've been around it. Maybe they're not as impressed
(05:15):
by it, or they're not hit by the business part
of baseball as much as other people are. So I
give I give Ethan Holiday a very good chance to
be an impact player at the major league level. And
it can be hard to say that about an eighteen
year old, but I think if you look at everything
in totality and the fact that a lot of people
(05:36):
thought that he was the best power hitter in this draft,
by school or college, I'm going to give him a
chance to make an impact. Here.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Different Rockies writer for Emily dot Com. It's Thomas Harding.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Thanks Thomas, thanks for having me
Well, it's like fatherlike son. Ethan Holiday, son of former
Rockies star Matt Holliday, selected by the Colorado Rockies with
the fourth overall pick in the twenty twenty five MLB Draft.
This marks a continuation of the Holiday family's connection to
the Rockies, as Matt Holliday was also drafted by the
Tweet team in nineteen ninety eight. Ethan a high school
shortstop highly regarded for his power hitting and is considered
(00:23):
a top prospect and joining it.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Town in the Ka Commas prior of Health Hotline Rockies
writer for MLB dot Com, It's Thomas Harding, Thomas, glad
to have you on with us this morning. Is this
knowing and believing in the Holiday gene pool or is
the younger Holiday? Is this a legit talent?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Well, the younger Holiday was the number one draft prospect
going into this and the baseball draft is a little
bit different because hems have various priorities. I could see
what the Washington Nationals were doing. They drafted a shortstop
raction was a little bit younger from the state of Oklahoma.
But they're also spreading their bonus money because they have
(00:59):
a picks the Rockies. They knew Ethan Holiday was the
best player. The next two teams the college pitchers. So
there are teams that will take college pitchers no matter
who the high school guy is. So that's why Ethan
Holiday fell to the Rockies. It wasn't that the Rockies were,
you know, drafting the guy because of his last name.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Thomas walk us through a little bit of the steps
of how the baseball draft process works, because first off,
Ethan is eighteen years old, he's now part of the
Rockies organization. But where does he start? Where does he
go from here?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Well, usually process they'll sign and sometimes they will put
them in the Arizona Complex League, which is a league
of younger players a lot from the Latin American programs.
But usually if it's an American drafted, drafted high and
maybe they're a little more acclimated, they'll go to Fresno,
which is the single eight team, the low eight team
(01:53):
for the Rockies. But there have been a few draft
picks that they have put in I know the last
couple of years they've done it. They've put them in
spoke Can which is usually against guys who've come out
of college. So the baseball draft, you can get your
draft guys coming out of high school or at some
point in their college career, usually after the third season.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I've seen a lot of guys that have gotten drafted
but really want to go to college drop because it
looks like it's actually fun and a competitive brand of ball. Thomas,
do we know if Ethan wants to go to college
and play ball there.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
For a while, Well, if you would go to college,
it would be for his uncle. And the answer is
unaspivoicable no. Because there is so much money. That's the
top part of a draft. I know, there's all those
picks are slot in. The Rockies for all of their picks,
they have fifteen million dollars to distribute, and I can't
remember exactly what the slot was for the number four
(02:43):
overall pick, but there was stock going into the draft
that while the Nationals were talking about going underslot, the
Rockies would go slightly over for their top pick and
save money or maybe some of the picks behind it.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Thomas, is it fair to compare him to his brother Jackson?
Is he a better player or they just different skill sets?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Really, the comparison, if you look at the body type,
is to his dad. Jackson is a little shorter, about
three years of shorter, maybe even four inches shorter, and
more of a slender build. Each then looks a lot
like his dad, And I remember that when his dad
was nineteen years old in spring training, he was still
growing and he ended up sixty four and two hundred
(03:22):
and forty pounds. At that time, he was a third baseman,
But the Rockies figured that it would be better to
get him out of the infield and into the outfield
because of the build, the power that he had, and hey,
when you've got a bat like that, you put him
in the corner, either infield or outfield, depending what he
does defensively. My question about Ethan and he stayed shortstop
(03:43):
because he's right now listed fourteenth twenty. He does play
that position pretty well for high school guy, but he
has played third. He played third when his brother played
shortstop in high school. So what will happen with him?
Will he end up at third baseman? Will he moved
to the outfield? Can't he stay at shortstop? My first
my immediate thought is put him in some corner of
(04:04):
the outfield and let him hit home runs.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Thomas. We're asking our listeners on social media how they
feel about the pick of Ethan Holiday, seventy two percent
say yes. It seems like a lot of people are
excited and love the pictures of seeing him when he
was young with his dad. But we do have a
listener too, that tongue in cheek said, well can we
draft new owners? So when we look at it in
just an overall fan base perspective, is this enough to
(04:28):
energize the fan base and get people to say, Okay, wait,
we see something good coming out of this.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
You generally, fan basis don't get energized until a team
starts winning. I mean, I think any kind of poll
about the Rockies right now, there will be a significant
number of people who will say yeah. But but the
truth of the matter is the future for an eighteen
year old is wrought with some danger there. But if
(04:55):
you look at Matt Holiday and then and then a
sud Jackson, they know this process, and I think that
makes a difference. That's why you see a lot of
sons of big leaguers draft at high in the draft,
because it's not just it's not just the ability, but
also they've been around it. Maybe they're not as impressed
(05:15):
by it, or they're not hit by the business part
of baseball as much as other people are. So I
give I give Ethan Holiday a very good chance to
be an impact player at the major league level. And
it can be hard to say that about an eighteen
year old, but I think if you look at everything
in totality and the fact that a lot of people
(05:36):
thought that he was the best power hitter in this draft,
by school or college, I'm going to give him a
chance to make an impact. Here.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Different Rockies writer for Emily dot Com. It's Thomas Harding.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Thanks Thomas, thanks for having me
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