Rockies pick Ethan Holliday with 4th overall pick of MLB draft

Ethan Holliday, a high school slugger with a remarkable baseball pedigree, is headed to the Rockies.

The club selected the left-handed hitter with the fourth overall pick of the Major League Baseball draft on Sunday. He’s the son of former Rockies slugger Matt Holliday, who was the cornerstone of Colorado’s only World Series team in 2007. Ethan was born on Feb. 23 of that year.

Ethan, 18, is the younger brother of Jackson, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2022 draft who climbed the minor-league ladder quickly and is now the starting second baseman for the Orioles.

Ethan had an inkling Colorado would select him.

“As the days started trickling down, there was no sure feeling, but there was a little something inside me that was kind of leaning toward the Rockies,” he said during a Zoom interview in which he sported a Rockies cap. “And my mom (Leslee Holliday) said she had a feeling, too. We’re so juiced and so excited for this opportunity, and it’s pretty cool that it’s the Rockies.”

His dad was excited to see his son heading to Colorado — a team that drafted him in the seventh round in 1998 — even though the Rockies are headed toward their third consecutive 100-loss season.

“Obviously, the organization has a special place in my heart, in our family’s heart, and our lives,” Matt said. “So it’s pretty surreal to have Ethan drafted by the Rockies and to see some of the pictures they’ve already posted (online) of Ethan so young in a Rockies uniform.”

There was widespread speculation that the Washington Nationals might take Holliday with the No. 1 overall pick. But the Nationals, who recently shook up their front office, surprised many draftniks by selecting Eli Willits, a 17-year-old shortstop from Fort Cobb-Broxton High School in Broxton, Okla.

The Rockies had to wait for two more picks before they got their young man. The next two selections were collegiate pitchers. The Angels took UC Santa Barbara right-hander Tyler Bremner, and LSU lefty Kade Anderson went to the Mariners.

Danny Montgomery, the Rockies’ assistant general manager of scouting, said Ethan was “definitely our No. 1 pick on the board.”

Marc Gustafson, senior director of scouting operations, added: “You can only imagine the excitement in our draft room when Ethan was available.”

As a senior at Oklahoma’s Stillwater High School, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Ethan hit .611 with a 2.038 OPS, 19 home runs and 64 RBIs. He was a shortstop at Stillwater but might project as a third baseman in professional baseball.

Ethan is the Rockies’ first high school player selected in the first round since outfielder Benny Montgomery in 2021. Ethan was named Gatorade’s 2024-25 Oklahoma Player of the Year, the Baseball America High School Player of the Year and the National Prep Baseball Player of the Year. He was projected as the nation’s No. 1 high school prospect entering the draft by Perfect Game.

Former Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd, now an analyst for MLB Network, said the Rockies made a great choice.

“He’s a foundational draft choice for the franchise,” O’Dowd told The Post. “He’s an incredible young man who has a significant chance to make an impact.”