Ethan Holliday at Stillwater High School. (Photo courtesy of Holliday family)
Colorado Rockies fans are hoping the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.
On Sunday, the franchise selected 18-year-old infielder Ethan Holliday — the son of Rockies great Matt Holliday — with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft.
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Matt spent six total seasons with Colorado, including the first five of his career in which he made three of his seven All-Star teams, was the 2007 NLCS MVP and led the Rockies to their first World Series appearance (2007, the same year Ethan was born). Matt, who walloped 316 home runs over the course of his 15-year career, returned to Colorado to play his final season with the Rockies in 2018.
Meanwhile, Ethan is often compared to his father as a baseball player. The 6-foot-4, 210-pounder throws right like his dad did but is considered one of the more MLB-ready lefty power hitters in the draft. And when Ethan’s name was called on Sunday, Matt was right there next to him, wishing him more success than he’d ever had.
Ethan starred at Stillwater (Okla.) High School and was named the 2025 High School Player of the Year, just like his brother, Jackson, in 2022. (Matt, Jackson and Ethan were all named Oklahoma’s High School Player of the Year as seniors). Jackson was the No. 1 overall pick in 2022 and is currently in his second season with the Baltimore Orioles.
All three Holliday men have boldly declared their faith in Christ while in the public eye, and Ethan did so once again in an interview with MLB Network shortly after the Rockies picked him.
“This is a really incredible opportunity,” he said. “I’m so driven by faith and I’m so grateful. The Lord has really been the centerpiece of my life, and I don’t even know what words I can put to this.”
Later in the interview, Holliday was asked about his mother Leslee’s impact on his life. For two years, Leslee hosted the “Table Forty” podcast on the Sports Spectrum Podcast Network alongside her husband.
“She’s loved on me my whole life,” Ethan said. “In my baseball career, she doesn’t get talked about enough. I love her. Thinking about what she’s done in my life makes me emotional, but as you know, she’s a superstar.”
He was also asked about the added pressure he’s felt in his baseball career because of the success of his brother and father.
“I wouldn’t sit here and say it’s all been easy, but also I’m so blessed to be able to play baseball,” Holliday said. “If the hardest thing in my life is expectations and pressure, then I’m gonna wake up super grateful every single day. The people that poured into my life — the people that are supporting me — that’s one of the main reasons why I can do what I love with freedom in my mind. … It’s had its tough moments, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Holliday writes that “Jesus is King” on his Instagram account and has been known to reference his faith in posts.
Holliday knows that, despite the significance his last name carries in baseball circles, it’s not his truest identity.
“My identity is 100%, no doubt, rooted through Christ,” he said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast this past February. “And baseball is just something I do and I happen to be pretty good at it, but my identity is in Christ and there’s nothing that’s going to take that away. Whatever happens with my baseball career, it’s not going to affect me.”
With his family, Holliday has attended Pro Athletes Outreach’s baseball conference each of the past three years. His faith in Christ was noticeable for his parents last offseason, when the family took part in a missions trip to the Dominican Republic with Compassion International, a Christian child sponsorship organization. It’s what he thinks he’d be doing if God hadn’t given him the gift of hitting a baseball really hard and throwing it really fast. Holliday even saw his pre-draft interviews with MLB franchises as an opportunity to share the Gospel.
Ethan wasn’t the first Holliday to be drafted high, nor was he the first Holliday to carry the hopes and dreams of Rockies fans on his shoulders. He’s not even the first Holliday to proclaim his faith in Jesus publicly. But the nonstop comparisons won’t overwhelm him; he has a peace that transcends all understanding.
“I knew there were going to be pressures, expectations, but being able to come and find my identity in Christ has taken so much weight off of this journey and I feel free,” he said in the Spring 2025 edition of the Sports Spectrum Magazine. “It’s a peace you can’t explain. … Navigating through sports and life, if I didn’t have Christ as my center, I don’t know how I could ever do it.”
The second and final day of the draft is Monday and is part of the 2025 MLB All-Star Week festivities. The All-Star Game is set for Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.
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