By Mallory Mattingly
Ethan Holliday secured the fourth overall spot in the 2025 MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies, keeping his faith and family legacy alive.
Upon his selection, he told the media, “This is a really incredible opportunity. 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.”
Holliday, the son of former Rockies player Matt Holliday, is a “6-foot-4, 210-pounder [who] throws right like his dad did but is considered one of the more MLB-ready lefty power hitters in the draft,” according to Sports Spectrum.
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The 18-year-old played his high school career at Stillwater High School in Oklahoma and was even selected as the 2025 High School Player of the Year, a feat he and his brother Jackson Holliday, who plays for the Baltimore Orioles, share.
“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. “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.”
Ethan Holliday is stoked to be headed to the organization that drafted his dad in 1998 💜@Rockies | @Nike pic.twitter.com/wxid7ugl6K
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) July 13, 2025
Related: Baseball Stars Jackson, Ethan Holliday Play ‘for an Audience of One’
For the athlete, faith and family are No. 1.
“My identity is 100%, no doubt, rooted through Christ,” Ethan said of his faith on the “Sports Spectrum Podcast” in 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.”
While he follows in his dad’s and brother’s baseball footsteps, his mom has been there for him every step of the way.
“She’s loved on me my whole life,” Ethan revealed. “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.”
The Rockies player added that there’s pressures that come along with being a Holliday.
“I wouldn’t sit here and say it’s all been easy, but also I’m so blessed to be able to play baseball,” he 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.”
It’s incredible to see the Hollidays live out their faith on and off the field.
Read Next: How Orioles Shortstop Jackson Holliday Glorifies God Through Career
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