High school star Ethan Holliday agrees record $9m signing bonus with Rockies

Ethan Holliday agreed to a minor league contract with a $9m bonus with the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday, a record for a player drafted out of high school under the current system.

Holliday, a son of Rockies great Matt Holliday and the younger brother of Baltimore second baseman Jackson Holliday, was the No 4 overall pick in this year’s draft. The 18-year-old, 6ft 4in shortstop from Stillwater, Oklahoma, was rated by MLB Pipeline as the No 1 available prospect.

The previous record for a drafted high school player under the current system was set this month by No 1 overall pick Eli Willits, who agreed to an $8.2m bonus with Washington. That topped the $8.19m given to Holliday’s brother, Jackson, by the Orioles in 2022.

The bonus also matches the fourth highest for any drafted player since picks were restricted to minor league contracts in 2012, trailing Cincinnati right-hander Chase Burns and Colorado outfielder Charlie Condon (both $9.25m), Pittsburgh right-hander Paul Skenes ($9.2m) and matching Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews. All four of those players signed after attending college.

Holliday’s family pedigree is impressive. He is the fourth member of his family to be named state baseball player of the year award in Oklahoma after his uncle Josh, father Matt and brother Jackson. Before his senior year at high school he had signed an endorsement deal with Adidas and went on to post a .611 batting average, hitting 19 home runs in 33 games with an OPS of 2.038.

His father, Matt, was a seven-time All-Star during a career mostly spent with the Rockies and St Louis Cardinals, with whom he won the World Series in 2011.