Sons of Holliday, Jones picked 1-2 overall
LOS ANGELES — Matt Holliday heard from agent Scott Boras that his son was about to be picked first in baseball’s amateur draft, and the 2007 batting champion didn’t let on.
“That was kind of cool,” Jackson Holliday said later. “He’s like, ‘All right, you’re just going to find out.’ That was really, really neat, and something I’ll probably never forget.”
Jackson watched on television about 30 seconds later Sunday when baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced that Baltimore chose the 18year-old shortstop first overall.
The only other son of a major leaguer to be a top pick was Ken Griffey Jr. in 1987.
Druw Jones, the son of All-Star Andruw Jones, had been projected first, but the 18-year-old outfielder went to Arizona with the second selection.
“It’s like a video game, honestly,” Holliday said. “Like every video game you play, you’re the first pick.”
Texas used the third pick on Kumar Rocker, a 6-5 righthander who failed to sign with the New York Mets after being selected 10th overall last year. Rocker will be reunited with Rangers minor league pitcher Jack Leiter, his teammate on Vanderbilt’s 2019 NCAA baseball championship team. Texas chose Leiter with the No. 2 pick last year.
MLB said this draft marked the first in which four of the first five picks were Black.
Family matters in this year’s draft. Justin Crawford, a son of four-time AllStar and Houston native Carl Crawford, was taken by Philadelphia at No. 17. Daniel Susac, a University of Arizona catcher who is a brother of former big leaguer Andrew Susac, was picked 19th by Oakland.
Holliday and Jones, both represented by Boras, have agreements for signing bonuses in excess of $8 million, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press.
Boras was on the phone with Matt Holliday while a member of his staff spoke to Druw Jones.
“A tough decision,” Orioles general manager Mike Elias said. “I would liken it to deciding what to order at a five-star restaurant.”
Holliday, a lefthanded hitter from Stillwater High in Oklahoma, is 6-1 and 175 pounds — quite a bit smaller than his 6-4, 240-pound father. He hit .685 and with 89 hits in 41 games and broke a national record for hits in a high school season that had been held by J.T. Realmuto.
His dad was a seventime All-Star in a big league career from 2004-18, including 2009-16 with the Cardinals. Holliday earned the 2007 NL batting title.
Jackson will head to the minors instead of attending Oklahoma State, where the baseball team is coached by his uncle Josh, Matt’s older brother.
Jones is a 6-3 18-year-old from Wesleyan High in Peachtree Corners, Ga. He hit .570 with 13 homers, 39 RBIs, 72 runs, 33 walks and 32 stolen bases this year. He also went 10-1 as a pitcher, though he is projected as an outfielder.
His father was a fivetime All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner.
“We’re probably almost exactly the same,” Druw said. “I try and make it my own game and be able to pursue and keep my career going and not really worry about what he did back in past but to be able have my own name and play my own way.”
Rocker, a 22-year-old from Georgia, failed to sign last year after the Mets became concerned over his physical. He had shoulder surgery last September and pitched this year for the independent Frontier League’s Tri-City ValleyCats as a showcase ahead of the draft.
Pittsburgh used the fourth pick on second baseman Termarr Johnson of Mays High in Georgia, a product of baseball’s Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities program. The top pick present for the broadcast, Johnson said the Pirates were getting “the best player in the draft.”
Washington used the fifth selection on outfielder Elijah Green from the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
University of Texas first baseman Ivan Melendez was selected in the second round at 43rd overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Melendez, who swept the national player of the year awards in 2022 and became UT’s first Golden Spikes Award winner, batted .387 and led the nation with a program-record 32 home runs.