Matt Holliday with the Yankees in 2017 (Photo by Scott Clarke/ESPN Images)
On the road again.
The song made famous by Willie Nelson could be the motto of new Yankees pitcher Jaime Garcia.
On Sunday, Garcia was traded to the New York Yankees in exchange for 2 prospects.
Garcia, 31, will join his third team in 2017 after being traded from the Cardinals to the Braves in December and then being traded again from Atlanta to Minnesota just a few days prior to him again being dealt a third time this year — to the Yankees.
Garcia joins a Yankees team that is currently in first place in the American League East and has seen a mixture of youth and experience, really mesh well in giving their fans hope that they could make a run at the pennant.
Current Yankees DH Matt Holliday and Garcia played seven seasons together with the St. Louis Cardinals. Matt told Sports Spectrum that he’s eager to welcome his former Cardinals teammate to New York.
“I got a call this morning from Jaime,” said Holliday. “I knew immediately that him calling me on a Sunday morning at 9 meant he was coming to New York! Having a brother in Christ that I spent the last 8 years playing with is exciting!”
Garcia made his major league debut with the Cardinals in 2008 and recently shared openly in a video by THE INCREASE, about his struggle with identity in Christ.
Matt Holliday, along with Adam Wainwright, became mentors to Garcia in St. Louis and showed him how a believer in Christ lived.
“I would see not just what they did on the baseball field, but the way they lived their life and that was a turning point in my life.”
Now back to together again in New York, Holliday looks forward to continuing that friendship with Garcia as they look to make a run at another World Series.
“He’s been a tremendous friend and teammate and I’m thrilled that we will be reunited. We’ve experienced a lot together both on and off the field over the past 8 years and I’m grateful to be back together.”
Garcia and the Yankees begin a three game series at home against the Detroit Tigers tonight at Yankee Stadium.
San Diego Padres' relief pitcher Jason Adam, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
In just eight days, MLB’s best from the National League and American League will duel it out at Truist Park in Atlanta in the 2025 All-Star Game. The initial rosters for this year’s Midsummer Classic were released on Sunday, and among the 19 first-time selections is San Diego Padres relief pitcher Jason Adam for the NL.
Adam, at 33 years of age and in his eighth MLB season, is having one of the best years of his career in 2025. He’s posted a tremendous 1.61 ERA with 52 strikeouts in 44 appearances thus far, and he’s allowed 34 hits in 44.2 innings pitched. Thanks in part to his efforts, the Padres have compiled a 48-41 record.
“Hard to explain. Incredibly thankful,” Adam said in an interview in the clubhouse after the rosters were released. “Thankful for the staff here giving me an opportunity to pitch. Thankful for my teammates picking me up on the nights I stunk. I don’t feel like I deserve it but I’m just incredibly thankful. … I’m overwhelmed with thankfulness. Didn’t feel like I could ever deserve this, but I feel blessed beyond measure.”
Later, the pitcher from Overland Park, Kansas, and father of four daughters revealed that he was in church when he got the call that he was an All-Star.
“We try to be good. We try to do everything we can to be the best at our job, “Adam said, “but ultimately, it’s a gift that we get to play this game and there’s a lot of factors beyond my control. So I try to do what I can, but ultimately, it’s a gift that I’m thankful for.”
Padres reliever Jason Adam reacts to being named an All-Star for the first time. pic.twitter.com/46WtT3XIWV
Adam has been outspoken about his faith in Christ throughout his MLB career, and on his Instagram account he describes himself as a “Christ follower” and references the Bible verse Proverbs 16:9. It says, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”
“[God’s] good is always better than our good and better than our initial plans,” he said. “Whether it’s a broken bone, a setback. Whatever it is in anyone’s life, He promises to work it for good.”
It took eight years and five different teams, but Adam is finally an All-Star. And when he looks back on the twists and turns of his MLB career that led him to where he is now, he knows it was God establishing every step.
“You can look back on the times that things felt incredibly bleak and the times where it felt like everything was going perfectly, and you just see His hand through it all,” Adam said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast in April 2024. “Really, if I’m being honest, those times where things looked bleak, in the long run, are the times I’m most thankful for.”
The 2025 All-Star game is set for July 15 at 8 p.m. ET. More players are expected to be added to the roster in the coming days as some pull out of the game due to injury or other concerns. Meanwhile, Adam and the Padres will host the Arizona Diamondbacks (44-46) on Monday at 9:40 p.m. ET in the first of a four-game home series.
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST WITH MATT FORTE, FEATURING FRASER ELLARD
Fraser Ellard is a left-handed relief pitcher with the Chicago White Sox. He was selected in the eighth round of the 2021 MLB Draft by Chicago and made his MLB debut in July 2024 against the Kansas City Royals.
Today on the podcast, Fraser Ellard shares about his journey of faith, navigating grief after losing his father at a young age, and how that shaped his understanding of God. He discusses the importance of finding purpose in adversity, the role of spiritual disciplines in his life, and the pressures he faced during his MLB debut.
Ethan Holliday. (Photo courtesy of the Holliday family)
Ethan Holliday is following in some familiar footsteps. Just like his older brother Jackson, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, Ethan enters this year’s draft as the potential top pick.
And, in a near-mirror image of Jackson, Ethan was recently named the 2025 Baseball America High School Player of the Year — an honor his brother claimed three years earlier. They are the first high school brother duo to each be honored as BA’s Player of the Year.
“It’s awesome, getting to share something like that with your brother, who you are super close with — and we actually got to play together,” Ethan told Baseball America. A shortstop now, he played third base his freshman year at Stillwater (Oklahoma) High School while Jackson played shortstop. “We’ve got a family business in Stillwater, and baseball is kind of just what we love to do. So it’s a real honor to share that with him.”
During his freshman year, Ethan Holliday watched his brother Jackson become Baseball America's High School Player of the Year.
Now, he finds himself in the same position.
The two are the first high school brother tandem to each be honored with the award.… pic.twitter.com/WYYNZl5t4h
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) July 1, 2025
Ethan tallied a .611 batting average with 19 home runs during his senior season despite being intentionally walked a heavy amount by opposing pitchers not wanting to let him do damage. He also played for the Team USA under-18 team in 2024 and the under-15 team in 2022.
The expectations surrounding Ethan go beyond his last name. As the son of seven-time MLB All-Star Matt Holliday and the younger brother of Jackson, he carries the weight of a baseball lineage that’s both elite and visible. At 6-foot-4, 210 pounds with a powerful frame reminiscent of his dad’s, Ethan doesn’t just play the part, he looks it.
Scouts and fans alike can’t help but draw comparisons to Matt’s physicality and presence at the plate, adding another layer to the already lofty projections for him. But Ethan was raised by humble parents, and despite this and the various awards and accolades he’s racked up in high school, he told Sports Spectrum in February that his identity is “100%, no doubt, rooted through Christ,” and it never wavers regardless of what’s going on with his baseball career.
“I feel like in the last three or so years, I’ve gotten to find where my identity really is,” he said. “So many people can get caught up in the game, get caught up in life, losing their identity in sports or things that are worldly. When I truly found where my identity was in Christ, and that’s where I’m centered, that’s who I am, my life has been incredible.
“That’s a peace you can’t explain. That’s a confidence, that’s a way of life you wish everyone can have. Navigating through sports and life, if I didn’t have Christ as my center, I don’t know how I could ever do it.”
He said these past few years have felt like “chaos” at times, but he’s grown closer to God through it all. He’s attended the Pro Athletes Outreach baseball conference the past three years with his family, but the most recent gathering helped him take an extra step in his faith and become a “warrior of the Lord.”
“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 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.”
Pastor David Platt of McLean Bible Church in Washington D.C. spoke at the last conference and mentioned how he puts out 5-7-minute devotional podcasts every day. Ethan immediately baked those into his morning routine to “feel connected with the Lord daily.” After the devotionals, he listens to worship music before getting into his school or training for the day. And he ends the day in prayer for about 10 minutes.
But “sometimes when life gets crazy, it’s an hour, hour and a half, where I shut everything off and it’s just me in my room in the dark, just talking to the Lord and really just feeling the Holy Spirit,” he said. “That’s huge for me. I need that time. I need that time even if it’s traveling for a summer event, or wherever I’m at, I need time with the Lord. I need that peace. I need that comfort and that gets me through days where sports aren’t going good, life gets a little crazy. To just be able to silence that noise with the voice of the Lord, that’s powerful.”
As part of the draft process, Ethan has met with several teams as they gauge his fit with their organization. He sees those conversations as a chance to share his faith.
“I get to do these draft interviews with these guys who we’ve never met and they’ll ask me questions, and I get to share just a little bit about the Gospel,” he said. “I don’t know where they come from, I don’t know what phase of life they’re in, but you never know.”
The 2025 MLB Draft will take place July 13-14 in Atlanta to kick off the All-Star Week festivities. Jackson has a game with the Orioles at 1:35 p.m. ET on July 13, but hopes to travel home in time to share the draft moment with his younger brother. Then Jackson could possibly make his first All-Star Game appearance July 15.
Ethan said he’s always looked up to Jackson since he was a child, and if he’s selected first, the Hollidays would join Peyton and Eli Manning as the only brothers to each be drafted No. 1 overall in American pro sports.
“I’m excited,” Jackson told Sports Spectrum. “He’s put himself in a pretty awesome position. I’m really looking forward to what the Lord has in store for big E.”
Harry Ford in spring training. (Photo courtesy of X/@MLBPipeline)
Seattle Mariners prospect Harry Ford would have probably made his MLB debut by now if he was a member of another organization. Ranked as the No. 59 overall prospect in baseball, the 22-year-old catcher is hitting .305 with eight home runs and a .418 on-base percentage in his first season at Triple-A.
It just so happens that the Mariners have MVP frontrunner Cal Raleigh and veteran Mitch Garver to share duties behind the plate, making Ford’s path to the big leagues a little more complex. He got a step closer Friday as a member of Seattle’s taxi squad — players allowed to be with the team as non-active members of the roster — after Garver injured his jaw Thursday.
Ford got the opportunity to experience life in the majors and participate in the pregame pitchers’ meeting, but because Garver’s injury didn’t put him on the injured list, Ford wasn’t activated to the big-league roster. So he rejoined the Tacoma Rainiers in Triple-A on Saturday.
While he waits for another call from the Mariners, Ford is going to continue doing what he’s done his whole career: lean on his strong faith in God and make the most of his situation.
“I’ve been feeling good, Tacoma’s been great,” he told the media Friday. “[Getting officially called up] is in God’s hands, so whenever they need me, they need me. I’m going to keep playing.”
— Mariners Player Development (@MsPlayerDev) June 17, 2025
On Monday, rosters for the MLB All-Star Futures Game were announced, and the American League’s features Ford for the third straight season. The showcase takes place during All-Star weekend, and this year will be hosted in Ford’s hometown of Atlanta.
The Mariners drafted Ford 12th overall out of high school in 2021. He was committed to play college baseball at Georgia Tech until a late surge up draft boards. As excited as he was to focus exclusively on baseball and start life on his own, Ford quickly found life as a minor leaguer to be more challenging than expected.
“He basically gave me an ultimatum,” Ford said on the podcast. “He was like, ‘Hey, listen. I’m going to give you a choice. You either choose this or you choose Me. You can only go one way. And so I started letting go of those things and choosing Him. But then, after that, He started opening the door to certain people in my life, especially in the Mariners organization, too, who were really centered around faith.”
Though he considered himself a Christian and had a relationship with Christ at that point, having Jesus meet him in the midst of his struggles was a life-changing experience for Ford.
“I’m thankful for it because it ultimately led me to pursue Jesus because I felt like He found me in that moment because I was searching so hard for everything else,” he said on the podcast. “It was just awesome getting to know Him and meeting Him. I thought I knew Him before, but then I feel like I really met Him then.”
Ford publicly shares his faith in a variety of ways, from posting videos on social media of him playing praise music to his partnership with Water Mission. For every home run he hits this season, he is making a donation to provide two people with Water Mission’s safe water solutions.
Set to continue playing with the Rainiers, Ford is putting his future in God’s hands and trusting in whatever the Lord’s plan for him is.
“When you surrender to Him and you surrender to His life, it frees you up out there,” he said on the podcast. “It doesn’t get you so locked in on feeling like you have to be perfect and be the best and be all these things. It actually can help, because it motivates you to work harder unto the Lord. It takes away the pressure that it’s, like, all on you.”
Tacoma returns to action against the Salt Lake Bees on Tuesday at 10:05 p.m. ET.
