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The Rockies, trying to avoid an ugly feat on the field this season, have made history off of it.
The MLB club has reached a contract agreement with Oklahoma high-school shortstop Ethan Holliday, the No. 4 pick in last week’s draft, that will include a $9 million signing bonus. The bonus is the highest in league history for a high school player, the fourth largest for any draft pick, and also beats the recently signed $8.2 million deal for Eli Willits, picked at No. 1 by the Nationals.
Holliday is the son of former Rockies star Matt Holliday, and the brother of Orioles infielder Jackson Holliday, who was picked No. 1 in the 2022 MLB draft and received an $8.19 million signing bonus.
Team Matters
The youngest Holliday will form a key part of a Rockies rebuild as the club seeks to avoid the worst season in modern MLB history. Colorado, 25–76 after Tuesday night’s win over St. Louis, is on pace to lose 122 games this year. Such a mark would just push past last year’s White Sox, who finished with a 41–121 mark, for the new standard in baseball ignominy.
Of the three players with higher signing bonuses in MLB history than Holliday, one is minor league outfielder Charlie Condon, selected by the Rockies last year at No. 3. Holliday, meanwhile, is potentially poised for big things in Denver’s higher elevation.
“The raw power is stupid,” Rockies senior director of scouting operations Marc Gustafson said last week after selecting Holliday. “I’ve not scouted a high schooler that’s ever displayed that type of power to all fields.”
The Rockies’ deal with Holliday also slightly exceeded the $8.77 million slot value for the No. 4 pick. While the slot values provide guidance for the signing bonuses, and there are penalties for extreme overspending beyond a team’s overall bonus pool, the deals are not entirely locked in like NFL and NBA rookie-level contracts.
