PHOENIX — Baltimore Orioles rookie Jackson Holliday became one of the youngest players in franchise history to produce a four-hit game Friday, when his cell phone kept buzzing atop the shelf in his locker.
It was a message from little brother, Ethan, just telling him just proud he was of him.
“I didn’t even wait for the game to end,’ 17-year-old Ethan Holliday told USA TODAY Sports. ‘That was just so cool to see that. I mean, my brother and I were inseparable growing up. We’re best friends. I talk to him four or five days a week. I don’t think that will ever change.’
While 20-year-old Jackson Holliday, baseball’s No. 1 draft pick in 2022, became the youngest Orioles player since Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson in 1957 to record four hits, his little brother was 2,200 miles away in Phoenix for the Perfect Game All-American Classic.
It was the latest showcase for Ethan Holliday in his dizzying summer, going everywhere from Panama to North Carolina to Virginia to Florida to Texas to San Diego to Atlanta to Kansas City to Boston.
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The Holliday family, with former seven-time All-Star and World Series champion Matt Holliday and wife, Leslee, leading the way, have spent virtually the summer traveling with 14-year-old daughter Gracyn and 11-year-old son Reed watching, well, a whole lot of baseball between Jackson and Ethan.
“It’s been a pretty hectic travel schedule,’ Matt Holliday says. “But hey, it’s all good. We love to watch baseball.’
It’s a baseball family, through and through. Matt’s dad, Tom Holliday, coached at Oklahoma State for 25 years, where his big brother, Josh, is the current coach. His uncle, Dave, scouts for the Philadelphia Phillies. And he has a cousin, Heath, who also played for OSU.
Who knows, this could be the modern-day version of the Alou family, with brothers Felipe, Matty and Jesus all playing in the major leagues together.
“Now,’ Ethan said, “that would be pretty cool. My younger brother is a stud.’’
Ethan, 6-foot-4, 195 pounds, has a chance to be the best of all of them, if you listen to scouts and talent evaluators. He’s got the size, the strength, the competitiveness, the heart and desire to be a perennial All-Star.
He’s widely considered the best eligible player in the 2025 amateur draft, and if 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 history.
“People look at the size and some of those raw abilities,’ Matt Holliday says. “He’s got 111-mph exit velocity with the bat, he’s got an incredible strong arm, and just some of the tangible things at a young age that he was further along than Jackson was.
“They’re different in a lot of ways, but it’s not fair to Ethan or Jackson to compare. They’re just both talented baseball players who are the biggest fans of each other.’
If you ask Jackson, who’s 4 inches shorter than his brother, he’ll tell you Ethan will be the best player in the family. If you ask Ethan, no one will ever top his dad, and he’ll be grateful to be mentioned in the same sentence as his brother.
“But we’re not going to touch our dad as far as competitiveness,’ Ethan says. “My dad is the most competitive person I ever met. know. You name it, he wants to beat you. It’s pretty crazy. Right now, it’s all about pickleball. We all play it, and my dad is really into it.’
Jered Goodwin, vice president of scouting for Perfect Game hates to make those comparisons, too. He has watched Ethan develop since he was 13 years old, admiring his maturity and poise, while having unlimited potential.
“He does a lot of things that Jackson did,’ Goodwin says, “only with more physicality. He’s a big human being like Matt is. He has the fluidity, grace, sweet swing, all of that stuff. You can see this guy being one of those new-age big shortstops with massive power. His tools will translate at the very highest level.’
The most difficult part for Ethan, who takes mostly online courses while attending Stillwater (Okla.) High School, is hearing the constant comparisons and expectations. He’s a Holliday, so he’s supposed to be great. He’s the younger brother of Jackson, so he’s supposed to be better. His father was a seven-time All-Star, so he’s supposed to be an MVP.
“They do have a target on their back,’ Goodwin says. “The expectations are unworldly at times. We can get caught up in unfair expectations.’’
Ethan certainly understands all of the hype and expectations. He knows he has been afforded luxuries many of his peers have never received. Who else gets to hang out in the St. Louis Cardinals clubhouse during the World Series and jump off the couch when David Freese hits the game-winning home run in the 2011 World Series? Who else gets to hang out with Aaron Judge?
Yet, after watching how Jackson handled it growing up, he has learned to embrace the pressure. He tries to ignore the talk on social media. He tries to tune out any taunting from opposing players or parents. He’s just a 17-year-old kid who loves to play baseball, and wants to enjoy his final year in high school before turning pro or going to Oklahoma State.
“There are times when the pressure gets heavy,’ Ethan says. “There’s definitely pressure and expectations. You hear people at these events trying to get into your head a little bit. But you have to learn from it.
“It’s something you get used to. Even growing up as a kid with my dad, when things aren’t going well, it’s hard dealing with the pressure. It can be lonely. But I just play the game, enjoy the game, and enjoy the people around me. It’s not going to last forever. One day, it’s over.’
Certainly, it’s a whole lot more difficult than what his dad had to endure coming up as a seventh-round pick by the Colorado Rockies in 1998 out of Stillwater.
“Not even close,’ Matt Holliday says. “It’s so much different now. We didn’t have social media, cell phones or these summer tournaments. Now, with the social media and the way high-school players and prospects are covered, there’s a lot more attention. Everybody knows who he is, and with the success Jackson has had, it’s magnified even more.
“Ethan’s had so more pressure, not only with the career I had, but being compared to Jackson.’
Matt Holliday, who retired after the 2018 season, was going to be St. Louis Cardinals manager Oli Marmol’s bench coach in November 2022, but then realized his family needed him. He changed his mind two months later and resigned from the position. His sons needed him more than the Cardinals.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I realized the time commitment as it got closer,’ Matt Holliday says. “As much as I wanted it to work, I didn’t want to have any regrets on missing the stuff the boys are doing. I was trying to figure out what a good balance was of staying in the game and working, and having the freedom to watch and travel and help whatever they needed for baseball.
“At the end of the day, the family was the most important. I don’t know what the perfect fit it, but I don’t think there will ever be a day when I don’t watch them play baseball.’’
While Jackson was making history in Baltimore, the rest of the family was all together in Phoenix this weekend. Ethan was staying at a downtown hotel with the rest of the Perfect Game players while the rest of his family stayed 20 minutes away at a resort with posh swimming pools to cool off in the 106-degree temperatures.
“It’s been really special having my family with me all of this time,’’ Ethan said. “I get to play ball and create lifelong friends while my family is right there supporting me. At the same time, we’re on our phones or iPads watching what Jackson is doing.
“Believe me, this has all been a blessing, for all of us.’
Around the basepaths
– The Toronto Blue Jays are expected to entertain trade offers this winter for shortstop Bo Bichette, who has no plans to stay in Toronto once he’s a free agent after the 2025 season.
First baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is also a free agent after the 2025 season, but the Blue Jays want to try signing him before he hits free agency.
– Chicago White Sox ace Garrett Crochet, who had struggled since the All-Star break (0-3, 8.78 ERA) until his last start Friday, is attracting plenty of interest from teams who are scouting him for a potential trade this winter. Crochet put on a show Friday, striking out nine batters in four innings, throwing 43 of his 55 pitches for strikes.
The White Sox still intend to trade Crochet in the offseason, and hope to also move center fielder Luis Robert Jr., who hit two homers on Friday after being in a 5-for-46 skid.
– Japanese star Roki Sasaki, who was expected to be posted this winter, now may be having a change of heart and could stay another season in Japan, several club executives say.
Simply, he hasn’t been the same dominant pitcher this year. He is 6-3 with a 2.20 ERA, but has struggled with his control. He has a career-low 4.10 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He has struck out 82 batters and walked 20 in just 69 ⅔ innings, yielding 52 hits.
– The Pittsburgh Pirates’ free-fall out of the NL wild-card race could cost manager Derek Shelton his job, or at least result in some changes on his coaching staff.
– While the White Sox have publicly said they plan to look outside the organization for a manager after the season – with the Marlins’ Skip Schumaker the leading candidate – they privately say that interim manager Grady Sizemore will be given consideration depending on how the White Sox fare the final six weeks.
– Giants ace Blake Snell, after a horrific first half, will exercise his opt-out clause after yielding a 2.08 ERA with 63 strikeouts and a no-hitter in his last eight starts.
One thing’s for sure: Snell won’t wait until spring training to sign this time around.
– Reliever Michael Kopech has turned out to be the steal of trade deadline for the Los Angeles Dodgers, courtesy of the White Sox.
Kopech was virtually a throw-in in their three-way deal to land utility infielder Tommy Edman from St. Louis, having gone 2-8 with a 4.74 ERA in 43 games.
Kopech has been nothing short of sensational with the Dodgers. He has faced 27 batters, and has retired 25 of them, giving up just one hit with one walk and 13 strikeouts.
In just two weeks, he has already become one of their closers.
– The Miami Marlins have laid off 12 amateur scouts, along with four field coordinators and two assistant GMs. They now are expected to start cutting their pro scouts.
While several teams have already pulled their pro scouts off the road, some veteran scouts predict that they could be extinct within five years.
– Scouts find it alarming that there are only 10 Dominican players ranked among the top 100 in MLB Pipeline’s latest ranking, believing that the elimination of the short-season leagues has harmed development.
– Injury of the week: Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo told NJ.com that doctors informed him that one of the reasons for his season-long slump is that he’s allergic to his batting gloves.
– Giants third baseman Matt Chapman is expected to opt out of his contract after the season, knowing that he can earn more on the open market than $17 million in 2025, $18 million in 2026, with a mutual $20 million option in 2027.
Chapman is having his best full season since 2019 and wants to stay in San Francisco, with the Giants expected to talk to him about an extension.
– The Orioles, who shelled out a stunning $13 million for veteran Craig Kimbrel to be their closer, now have six weeks to decide how to deploy him in the postseason.
Kimbrel’s last save for the Orioles was July 7 when he had a 2.10 ERA.
In his 10 appearances since, he is yielding a 10.24 ERA and a 2.38 WHIP:
9⅔ innings, 11 hits , 13 runs (11 earned) , 12 walks , 11 strikeouts, 4 HRs.
– You want parity?
This is the first time in 33 years that no team has a .600 winning percentage this late in a season, and it’s quite possible this will be the first time since 1959 that no team wins 95 or more games.
– Shohei Ohtani is on pace to join the 40-40 club in the fewest games of any player in history.
He has 38 homers and 37 stolen bases through the Dodgers’ 121 games entering Sunday.
The quickest to the 40-40 club was Alfonso Soriano in 2006 in the Washington Nationals’ 148th game.
– Congratulations to former pitcher Miguel Batista who graduated this week with a master’s degree in criminal procedure law.
– No one has had a turnaround like the Houston Astros this season. They were 10 games out of first place on June 17, with other teams wondering if they would start selling off their stars. Instead, they’ve watched the Astros’ dramatic turnaround to lead the AL West and perhaps play in their eighth consecutive ALCS. They’ve been doing this all without All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker, who has been out for three months with a bruised shin and no timetable for a return.
Their pitching, despite the rash of injuries, has been responsible for the uprising, with the second-lowest ERA in baseball since June 1, and they’re about to get three-time Cy Young winner Justin Verlander back.
Their turnaround resurrects memories of 2005 when they started 19-32, and the front page of the Houston Chronicle featured a tombstone that read, “RIP Astros season: April 5, 2005-June 1, 2005.”
The Astros went on a 41-16 roll through June and July and reached the World Series.
– Kudos to 44-year-old Rich Hill, who signed a minor-league contract to join the Boston Red Sox for the fourth time after spending the summer coaching his son’s Little League team.
– It’s stunning that the Milwaukee Brewers have the biggest division lead in baseball at 10 games entering Saturday, considering they have been devastated by injuries this season after trading Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes in the winter.
– Coolest celebration of the week: Gaby Vazquez, wife of Minnesota Twins catcher Christian Vazquez, who got a seven-piece Puerto Rican band to play in the clubhouse to celebrate his 10 years of major-league service. She brought in his parents from Puerto Rico, too.
“Very, very special day,’’ Vazquez told reporters. “It’s been a long ride, a long road. Lot of bumps in the ride, but we made it.’
– David Hamilton and Jarren Duran entered Saturday just one stolen base away from being the first Red Sox teammates to steal 30 or more bases in the same season since 1910 with Harry Hooper (40) and Tris Speaker (35).
– Remember when the Cleveland Guardians were open to trading closer Emmanuel Clase last winter?
Well, he just happens to be the MVP of their team, leading all of baseball in saves (37) with a 0.64 ERA. He has been successful in his last 24 save opportunities, and he became the first Guardians pitcher to save games on four consecutive days since Jose Mesa in 1995.
– Shohei Ohtani may be recovering quite nicely from his Tommy John surgery, but forget the notion of the Dodgers bringing him to the pitcher’s mound this season.
Simply, Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes said, it’s not happening.
– It was 20 months ago when the Oakland A’s traded their stud catcher, Sean Murphy, to Atlanta for five prized prospects.
Well, that trade has been a colossal bust.
The A’s just designated reliever Kyle Muller for assignment, who was one of the headliners in the deal. The others: Outfielder Esteury Ruiz is currently injured at Triple-A. Right-hander Freddy Tarnok was designated for assignment. Catcher Manny Pina was released after four games. And minor-league reliever Royber Salinas is out for the season after yielding a 9.95 ERA at Triple-A.
Oh, and to make matters worse, the A’s actually acquired All-Star catcher William Contreras from Atlanta, only to flip him to Milwaukee for Ruiz in the three-way trade.
– The Yankees were willing to include prized outfield prospect Spencer Jones for pitching help at the deadline, several teams said, but balked because of Jones’ struggles this year.
– Texas Rangers GM Chris Young, who for some reason still is awaiting ownership to sign him to a new contract after winning the World Series last year, says they have no plans to DFA their players on expiring contracts just to save money, as the Angels did a year ago to get under the luxury tax.
Certainly, contenders would jump at the chance to claim Nate Eovaldi and the likes of relievers Kirby Yates, David Robertson and Jose Leclerc.
– The Dodgers, who have dominated the NL West for the last 11 years, winning the division by 16 games last year and 22 games in 2022, suddenly find themselves in a fight for their lives with the Padres and Diamondbacks looming larger and larger in their rear-view mirror, just two games back.
“I’d be lying if I said that no one’s watching the scoreboard and appreciating how good the rest of the teams in our division are playing,’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters, “so that just puts the onus on us to play good baseball.’’
The last time the NL West had three teams finish within seven games of one another was in 2009.
– Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz is one stolen base shy of becoming only the seventh shortstop in history to steal 60 bases. He’s on pace for 81 stolen bases, accomplished only by Maury Wills among shortstops.
– It’s almost unfathomable that the Mariners have lost five games this season in which their pitching staff yielded five or fewer hits.
– If the White Sox season isn’t embarrassing enough, they will pick no higher than 10th in the 2025 amateur draft since they got a lottery pick in back-to-back years as a club that doesn’t receive revenue sharing.
– No team has been hit with more pitching injuries this year than the Dodgers, who have had 11 starting pitchers go on the IL this season, with Tyler Glasnow returning for the second time to the IL this weekend.
– The criticism of the Astros giving up too much to acquire Yusei Kikuchi at the trade deadline sure has quieted.
He has been just what the Astros needed, going 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA, striking out 24 batters in 16⅔ innings in three starts since arriving from Toronto.
– Has there ever been a quicker turnaround than Mariners outfielder Victor Robles, who was released by the Washington Nationals on June 1 (hitting .120 with a .401 OPS), and just 73 days later, signed a two-year, $9.75 million contract extension?
– The San Diego Padres are holding out hope that Yu Darvish will return this season from the restricted list, which would be a huge boost for their aspirations of winning the first World Series in franchise history.
– The lowest batting average by a player winning the National League batting championship is .313 by Tony Gwynn in 1988.
Padres infielder Luis Arraez, a two-time batting champion, currently leads the NL with a .308 batting average.
Atlanta DH Marcell Ozuna is the only other NL qualifying hitter batting over .300 at .302.
– No starter traded at the deadline has been more valuable than Zach Eflin of the Orioles. He’s 4-0 with a 2.13 ERA since being acquired from Tampa Bay, becoming the the first pitcher in Orioles history with at least 25 strikeouts and two or fewer walks in his first four starts with the team.
– The Padres certainly have drawn the attention of owners throughout the game. They slashed their payroll by $90 million over the winter, and here they are today as World Series contenders, playing better than anyone.
They traded Juan Soto, let Cy Young winner Blake Snell and All-Star closer Josh Hader walk away, along with veteran starters Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Nick Martinez – and now are just two games behind the Dodgers.
– If the Toronto Blue Jays are ever going to call first baseman Joey Votto back to the major leagues it could be Monday when the Blue Jays face Votto’s former team, the Cincinnati Reds, in a three-game series.
Votto is hitting just .180 with two homers in 29 minor-league games this season.
– The Oldtime Baseball Game, a charity event in Cambridge, Mass., will honor the late, great Jim Caple on Aug. 22 in Cambridge, Mass.
Caple, a brilliant baseball columnist for ESPN, the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, died at the age of 61, battling ALS and dementia.
– Congrats to Atlanta veteran starter Charlie Morton who recorded his 2,000th strikeout in what is expected to be his final season.
–Former manager Clint Hurdle is hosting the 4th annual Pathfinder Village Baseball Clinic at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y., on Aug. 27, for adults with special needs.
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