Ethan Holliday is pulling homers and crushing baseballs. Watch out, Single-A
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When Ethan Holliday took a fastball off his left elbow last Thursday, the Rockies organization must have held its collective breath. The 19-year-old doubled over in pain for almost a minute before taking his base. He eventually left that contest, but he wasn't held down for long.
Since returning to the Single-A Fresno lineup two days later, Holliday has been on an absolute barrage. Colorado's No. 1 prospect went deep again Wednesday night in a 12-2 loss to San Jose at Excite Ballpark, his fourth consecutive game with an extra-base hit.
Dating back to last Wednesday, the No. 4 pick in the 2025 Draft has homered three times and amassed 13 RBIs and a 1.362 OPS over a span of six games.
Holliday’s latest homer was a pull-side shot off right-hander Sam Bower (Giants) on a changeup that floated into his bat path. While we’re working with small samples just 40 games into the pro career of MLB’s No. 17 prospect, the fact that yet another ball was ripped to right field is the latest indication Holliday is finding his swing. After pulling just 29.7 percent of his balls in play during his brief debut last summer for Fresno, he has flipped that mark to 48 percent coming into the night.
Overall, Holliday has been developing into the player the Rockies were exuberant to land in the first round of last year’s Draft. The raw power? Still proving to be “stupid” impressive. His plate discipline and swing decisions -- even with a 28.7 percent strikeout rate -- have enabled him to amass a .406 on-base percentage through 22 games.
The dog days of summer have yet to set in, but Holliday entered the night with a 132 wRC+. Last season, just two qualified Rockies Minor League hitters -- Jared Thomas (135) and current Fresno teammate Roldy Brito (158) -- exceeded that mark.
It has undoubtedly helped Holliday to find himself sandwiched in the lineup between Brito (COL No. 3/MLB No. 96) and Tanner Thach, the latter of whom was named the California League’s Player of the Month for April earlier this week.
With the quartet of Charlie Condon (COL No. 2/MLB No. 58), Cole Carrigg (No. 6), Zac Veen (No. 13) and Sterlin Thompson (No. 15) making noise for Triple-A Albuquerque on the doorstep of Coors Field, Holliday and co. continue to blossom in the wings, providing an all-new wave of Rockies talent to be excited about.