Ethan Holliday reflects on his first taste of professional baseball

The Colorado Rockies started their final home series of the 2025 season with a special guest.

Former outfielder Matt Holliday—already a presence in his own right—led his son into the Rockies clubhouse. The pair had been there together many times before, but this time was different.

This time, as Matt Holliday walked Ethan Holliday into the clubhouse, the youngest Holliday was greeted with a labeled big league locker (right next to Kyle Farmer’s), and a uniform with his last name and the number 25 emblazoned on the back.

“It almost adds a little bit of motivation,” Ethan said. “Obviously this is incredible. This whole experience, you get a taste of it, but ultimately you want to be here. It gives you goosebumps walking in there and seeing your name. This is what you dreamed of.”

The Rockies selected Holliday fourth overall in this year’s MLB draft. The no. 1 amateur prospect per MLB Pipeline heading into the draft, the stars seemed to align when he was available after the first three picks.

“When he became available, you can only imagine the excitement that we had in our draft room,” said Rockies Senior Director of Scouting Operations Marc Gustafson.

Holliday took batting practice and fielding practice with the team pre-game to showcase just why the Rockies wanted him so badly. He effortlessly crushed balls to the third deck at Coors Field and looked seasoned at shortstop.

“Oh man, what don’t you like about that guy?” gushed Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer.

“I’m super excited about that draft pick. Oh my gosh. His body is incredible. You can tell he comes from his dad sitting right over there, but he’s only going to be able to put weight on at 18-years-old. I mean, he’s hitting balls at ease into the third deck. Pretty sweet swing, good actions at shortstop. ‘What’s there not to like?’ That’s the better question. To which the answer would be ‘I don’t know.’”

The big-bodied shortstop from Stillwater, Oklahoma is still raw—and still very young at 18-years-old—but after a short orientation period at the Rockies’ Arizona Complex he was assigned to the Low-A Fresno Grizzlies to play his first 20 professional baseball games.

“It’s a challenge, but it’s been a good challenge,” Holliday said. “I got to have failures and successes in Fresno and Arizona. The greatest part about the minor leagues is you’re not a finished product once you get drafted. It’s different from other sports. You get to learn a lot about yourself, and you get to learn the game at the highest level.”

In 20 games with the Grizzlies—including two playoff games—Holliday hit .228/.344/.354 with four doubles, two home runs, and 13 walks. He reached safely in 17 of his 20 games played and had a base hit in 13 games.

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He also struggled with strikeouts. Holliday struck out 38 times in 93 plate appearances and had a tough time against breaking pitches and elevated fastballs. However, he is once again very young and very raw. He will need time to develop the tools that make him such a tantalizing prospect.

“The difference in speed from high school to professional is much different,” Holliday explained. “I’m still working on finding a process that works for me, knowing that there’s going to be ups and downs. It was good to get out there in Fresno and compete where every at-bat matters, and that part was great. But overall, the adjustment is real and it’s only going to get harder. That’s what’s great about this game. You have to make adjustments. You have to learn more about yourself and how to have an elite process.”

Thankfully, Ethan has more resources at his disposal than most first-round picks. In addition to the Rockies organization, he has his father Matt—a seven-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger, and 2007 National League Championship Series MVP— and his older brother Jackson, who was drafted in the first round by the Baltimore Orioles in 2022. Although transitioning to professional baseball was still challenging, Ethan Holliday felt prepared.

“My mom was with my dad the whole time throughout his career. My brother’s doing it. My dad did it. So I’m fortunate enough to have that direction. I wasn’t really caught off guard by anything, just because I kind of lived through it with my dad a lot, and when Jackson went to the minor leagues I was on the phone with him every night,” Holliday said.

“But when it’s your own life, it’s different. Obviously you go home from a game and you don’t have your parents and your siblings to talk to you or mess around with you. You’ve got to learn how to just flush the game. If it’s good or bad, you’ve got to flush it and get ready for the next one.”

In addition to playing almost every day in Fresno, his brother Jackson helped him develop that skill.

“We talk a lot. I called him after one game, and I was like ‘man, this is tough. I’m striking out a lot.’ And he’s like, ‘I struck out three times every night. It just happens. You’ve got to get ready for tomorrow. Like, come on, dude, get out of that.’”

The struggles of professional baseball are something Matt Holliday has helped try and prepare both of his sons for.

“The mental part of the game is extremely important,” the Holliday patriarch stated. “How you handle failure, how you bounce back, and how you deal with results and controlling what you can control. We spent a lot of time discussing that. It’s not easy, but I think [Ethan] is prepared as much as an 18-year-old can be prepared for that.”

Matt—just six weeks after having hip replacement surgery—was unable to join his son for batting practice, but watching his son take swings was enough.

“It’s awesome. It’s very surreal to some degree, just to see Ethan in a Rockies uniform out there taking batting practice, taking ground balls. It’s cool. I hit a few out [during my first batting practice], but nothing like that. I was impressed.”

Matt added, “You know, he’s such a controlled kid. The first round, he’s nice and easy. From the first pitch on he’s out there getting loose and stroking it. I remember my first round, I was trying to hit it off the scoreboard.”

Ethan described his batting practice a little differently.

“I was just trying to have a good day at BP. I was out here at a big league field run by big leaguers. I was just trying to do what I do every day in Arizona. The ball flies a little bit different here so I just decided to let them rip.”

Holliday still has a long way to go until taking batting practice with the big league team becomes a daily occurrence. He will likely start his 2026 season back in Fresno or with the High-A Spokane Indians. However, the goal for him is clear.

“All of this is still surreal to me every single day. You’re starting to work towards a goal of being here and I definitely think about that. It’s definitely cool to be out here next to all these guys, and I want to be teammates with them.”

Weekly Pebble Report: September 16th-September 22ndTriple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes (3-3, 62-87 Overall). Season Complete.

The Isotopes ended their season with a series split against the Reno Aces (Arizona Diamondbacks) at home to close out the minor league regular season. Two of their wins came on their first two fan appreciation nights, but they sadly dropped the final game of the series. On that final day of the season, they honored fan favorite and team MVP Sam Hilliard in full Los Mariachis regalia.

⬆️ Stock Up: A Sterlin finish to a Sterlin season.

Isotopes outfielder Sterlin Thompson (no. 18 PuRP) capped off an excellent season with a strong final week. Thompson went 7-for-19 at the plate with a double, a home run, three RBIs, more walks than strikeouts, and three stolen bases.

⬆️ Stock Up: Saying goodbye to his Amadoring fans

Adael Amador wrapped up his season quite the hot streak. After a strong series against El Paso last week, he continued his work against the Aces. He went 9-for-24 with a double, a triple, two home runs, six RBIs, and an even four walks to four strikeouts.

Prospect of the Week!

Congratulations to Kyle Karros (no. 4 PuRP) on being named the Rockies’ minor league player of the year by Baseball America!

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Ethan Holliday reflects on his first taste of professional baseball

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