Rockies fall in draft lottery, will likely miss out on Matt Holliday’s son
Dec 10, 2024, 3:58 PM | Updated: 4:01 pm
The Colorado Rockies fell in MLB’s third-ever lottery for the league’s 2025 Draft, and will pick at number four as determined during the sport’s winter meetings in Dallas on Tuesday.
Despite having the second-worst record in 2024, the Rockies actually tied for the highest odds to win the first pick in 2025 with a 22.45% chance. The Miami Marlins, who had a slightly better record, also had the same shot at landing the top pick. The top six picks are determined by the lottery then starting at seven it gets determined in reverse order of regular season record and postseason finish. The White Sox had the worst record in baseball but were ineligible for the first pick because teams that receive revenue-sharing dollars cannot be selected in three consecutive lotteries.
The Marlins ended up falling all the way to No. 7. With the Washington Nationals getting the top selection.
Last year, the Guardians jumped up to No. 1 and selected Aussie slugger Travis Bazzana. Two seasons ago Pirates won the first-ever lottery from the third spot. They went on to take former Air Force and LSU righty Paul Skenes. The Orioles took Matt Holiday’s son Jackson Holliday at the top spot in 2022.
No first-overall pick had been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame until 2016, when Ken Griffey Jr. got his nod with a record at the time of 99.3 percent of votes cast. Since then, The Kid has since been joined by two other top picks: Chipper Jones and Harold Baines.
MLB.com has Papa Holiday’s younger son and Jackon’s younger brother Ethan Holliday going No. 1. The left-side infielder from Stillwater is the top high school player in the country.
The Rockies highest pick in franchise history was Greg Reynolds at No. 2 in 2006 out of Stanford. The righty threw 94 innings for the Rockies with a 7.47 ERA. All-Star Evan Longoria went a pick later and Cy Young winners Tim Lincecum, Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer went in the next several selections. Colorado has thirce picked third, taking Jon Gray, Brendan Rodgers and Charlie Condon last season. And the Rockies have one other time had a top-five selection, drafting Riley Pint.
Before the 2023 MLB Draft, the order was done in reverse order of the previous year’s standings. Now with the new machinations, the Rockies could’ve selected anywhere between number one and eight.
The Rockies not only had the second-worst record in baseball last year but were just No. 12 in MLB.com’s midseason farm system rankings. The top pick from last year Condon, is already the team’s top prospect, but the new guy will likely bolster the rebuilding Rockies system to a top 10 one in MLB.
Only the first round of the draft is set by lottery, with rounds 2-20 in the reverse order of this past year’s standings. Due to free agent compensation, and competitive balance selections, it’s unknown right now exactly how many and where the Colorado will pick later in the draft. We do know however that they got the fourth pick in the first round.
