DALLAS — The Battle of the Beltways could soon be the Battle of the Holliday Brothers.
The Washington Nationals on Tuesday evening won MLB’s draft lottery for the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft. The Nationals landed the top pick despite having only the fourth-best odds at 10.2%.
The draft is still seven months away, and plenty of evaluating is still to be done. But if Washington ends up selecting the player who many currently consider the top prospect in the class, the games between the Orioles and Nationals in the future could be a family affair.
Ethan Holliday, the younger brother of the Orioles’ Jackson Holliday, is ranked by several outlets as the best player in the class. ESPN’s early mock draft of the top five picks has the Nationals drafting Ethan, a senior at Stillwater High School in Oklahoma.
If Ethan is selected by the Nationals, it would give the Holliday family two sons drafted No. 1 overall in addition to Matt, their father, and his seven All-Star Game selections. The Orioles drafted Jackson with the top pick in 2022, and the middle infielder dominated minor league baseball to reach the majors at 20 years old last season.
Ethan is a much different prospect than his older brother. Projected to be a third baseman in professional baseball, Ethan has elite power thanks to his larger frame but there are questions about his contact ability as he faces better pitching.
It’s far from a forgone conclusion that Ethan will be the top pick in the draft, though most evaluators expect him to go in the first round, likely as a top-five pick. Baseball America, for example, has Texas A&M outfielder Jace LaViolette as the top player in the class, with Ethan at No. 2.
At this stage in the process three years ago, Jackson was not seen as a top 10 pick because of his smaller stature and questions about his power and ability to play shortstop in the future. But Jackson popped in the spring, raising eyebrows across the industry and inside the Warehouse at Camden Yards, to emerge as the clear No. 1 pick.
Showcases, scouts and Madonna: How the Orioles picked Jackson Holliday
This article will be updated. Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at [email protected], 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.
