Oklahoma State Commit Ethan Holliday Picked Fourth in 2025 MLB Draft

Another Oklahoma State commit is heading to the major leagues.

On Sunday, the 2025 MLB Draft got underway, with Ethan Holliday going fourth overall to the Colorado Rockies. Holliday was the top high school player in the country coming out of Stillwater and was committed to play for the Cowboys.

Instead, Holliday will get to make the jump from high school to professional baseball, not needing time in college to showcase his skills. Last season at Stillwater, Holliday had a batting average of .611 to go with 19 home runs and 64 RBIs. While the Cowboys would have loved to have Holliday in Stillwater next season, it’s no surprise that he will soon be playing professionally after such a dominant high school career.

This is one of the things that makes college baseball unique compared to some of the other major sports. While there is still a push to allow basketball players to go straight from high school to the NBA, incoming players must be a year removed from high school.

That type of rule doesn’t exist in baseball, giving the top prospects in the country a chance to chase their professional dreams straight out of high school. Of course, baseball is also structured differently than most major sports at the professional level.

Having a draft in the middle of the season is unique to baseball among the four major sporting leagues, which is a product of how the non-professional baseball season typically ends much earlier and allows players to jump straight into action. As Holliday looks to begin his professional career with the Rockies, he has plenty of people to lean on within his family alone.

Of course, his brother Jackson Holliday was in a similar spot just three years ago, when he was the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft, going to the Baltimore Orioles. After playing in the minor leagues for a couple of seasons, Holliday made the jump to the major leagues last year and has been a star for the Orioles since.

Meanwhile, his father, Matt Holliday, was a seven-time All-Star and won the 2011 World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Holliday family being this great at baseball isn’t always perfect, as now Ethan’s uncle, Josh Holliday, won’t have the opportunity to coach him at OSU.