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Kiley McDaniel
Colorado Rockies shortstop Ethan Holliday, the fourth general choice within the MLB draft, signed for a $9 million bonus on Tuesday, the largest bonus acquired by a highschool participant in draft historical past.
Holliday, ranked as the highest highschool participant within the draft and second general by ESPN, is the son of former Rockies legend Matt Holliday and is the youthful brother of Baltimore Orioles infielder Jackson Holliday, who was the primary general choose within the 2022 draft.
Ethan Holliday’s $9 million bonus is tied for the fourth-highest bonus of all time.
The highest three highschool bonus figures all now belong to former Oklahoma highschool shortstops.
Jackson Holliday held the all-time highschool bonus file ($8.19 million) till first Eli Willits ($8.2 million) after which Ethan Holliday surpassed it this yr. Willits was the primary general choose by the Washington Nationals and was ranked because the third-best participant within the draft by ESPN.
The MLB draft is exclusive in that groups get a set bonus pool primarily based on the picks that they’ve however are free to spend these bonuses nevertheless they need amongst their picks. The Nationals did the identical factor with their prime choose within the 2024 and 2025 drafts, taking a participant who was thought-about a barely lesser consensus expertise and would take a barely lesser bonus to then unfold the financial savings to later picks.