2025 MLB Draft - Mariners with Pick #3

[Seattle or Bust]

I've been expecting Ethan Holliday to drop and maybe he still will. It's not that there's anything especially wrong with him, but I've not heard anything yet to make me think he belongs at the top of the draft. Positionally, there's no way he's a shortstop in the pros, so is he a third baseman? It's probably more likely that he isn't. So what you're drafting is a bat, and if you're drafting a bat that high, it needs to be special, more special than just having the name Holliday and being an advanced high school level bat. I have no doubt he's a good hitting prospect, but is he truly special?

You can't draft a third baseman? Didn't the M's do exactly that with Colt Emerson?

How is his bat not special? According to Joe Doyle, he was hitting over .600 with 8 homers in 16 games on April 8th.

If the concern is contact, we drafted a guy who was supposed to be an elite contact hitter. His name is Cole Young. Scouts grade him as a 60 hit tool. He is currently hitting .225 as a near 22 year old in AAA. He hasn't hit .300 since his rookie-ball days over 34 games.

From what I've read about him, it seems unlikely he'll stick at 3rd. He's already big and he'll probably thicken out some. He's more likely a first baseman or corner outfielder, which isn't special positionally. And so the question is: how special is the bat? And what I've read about him so far is that everyone likes him and he's a good hitting prospect, but not so much that he's head and shoulders above all the rest. Nobody (so far) seems to think he's the best hitting prospect they've seen in years. But maybe that will emerge over the next few months, which is what happened with his brother.

I'm not really sure if it matters if he's the best hitting prospect seen in years. It appears to be a weaker draft. He's supposedly got a higher ceiling than his brother with the bat. And his brother has a career .928 OPS in the minors which is hardly something to shake a stick at.

I'd prefer Laviolete personally b/c he'd be closer to the majors. Since the first posts on this thread, he's drastically reduced his K rate. But I wouldn't be upset with Holliday.

The pitching prospects seem a little underwhelming. Arnold only features a 2-pitch mix and he's 93-95... he'd be a little more compelling if he could throw 96-98 cause then he'd be Sale like with how good the slider is.

[Donn Beach]

Yeah, Hollidays feature is power, does it really matter where your your power guy plays? Vlad just got a $500 mil contract playing first base

[bpj]

Yeah, Hollidays feature is power, does it really matter where your your power guy okays? Vlad just got a $500 mil contract playing first base

Worrying about whether a power bat can play defense is exactly why we don't have a quality 1B or DH or corner outfielders that can hit because these goofy statboys think you can defend yourself to a win.

Which, as we've seen, doesn't happen nearly often enough when the team can't plate runs because they're carrying a bunch of defense-first players.

Holliday makes me think of Kyle Seager then Corey Seager. I don't know if he's any good. But I think pedigree seems to be playing out pretty well for most teams these days.

They need to stop drafting pitchers high if they're going to hesitate to trade them for bats in the end. Because we know they're not going to be signing any bats to come play at T-Mobile besides the hat-in-hand'ers.

[Donn Beach]

Yeah, they push the pedigree aspect as baseball IQ. There's a lot of juniors out there that have done pretty well

[Pharmabro]

83 days until draft day.

[D-train]

From what I read he isn't going to stick at SS but he's considered to make a good 3rd baseman

Holliday moves well for his size and has average speed, though he'll probably lose a step as he continues to mature physically. He has nice actions and solid arm strength at shortstop, but he won't cover enough ground to stay there on a long-term basis. The Oklahoma State recruit projects better as a slugging third baseman and could be a quality defender on the hot corner.

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draf ... day-815787

If I was him I would go to college. He obviously doesn't need money and the college experience, education and the college girls seem better than riding buses in the minors and playing in front of 757 fans for years....

[Donn Beach]

Yeah and be coached by his father, that's like one of those life experiences you should take advantage of.

[Pharmabro]

From what I read he isn't going to stick at SS but he's considered to make a good 3rd baseman

Holliday moves well for his size and has average speed, though he'll probably lose a step as he continues to mature physically. He has nice actions and solid arm strength at shortstop, but he won't cover enough ground to stay there on a long-term basis. The Oklahoma State recruit projects better as a slugging third baseman and could be a quality defender on the hot corner.

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draf ... day-815787

If I was him I would go to college. He obviously doesn't need money and the college experience, education and the college girls seem better than riding buses in the minors and playing in front of 757 fans for years....

That is a big choice. If he gets hurt? On the other hand, he will obviously get a full ride, probable NIL, and whatever allowance he gets from daddy, side hustles, etc. I bet he would have a pretty posh lifestyle on campus. Vs 8.5 M in pick #3 slot value? I don't see how you could say you were wrong for choosing either path.

[GL_Storm]

Yeah, Hollidays feature is power, does it really matter where your your power guy plays? Vlad just got a $500 mil contract playing first base

Sure. But my point was simply that I expect him to fall in the rankings a bit more than he has so far. With his brother, it was the combination of the bat really breaking out in his senior year AND the promise of being able to play shortstop that pushed him to the #1 overall pick. And I'm not hearing or reading anything like that with Ethan. It could still come though.

[D-train]

From what I read he isn't going to stick at SS but he's considered to make a good 3rd baseman



https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draf ... day-815787

If I was him I would go to college. He obviously doesn't need money and the college experience, education and the college girls seem better than riding buses in the minors and playing in front of 757 fans for years....

That is a big choice. If he gets hurt? On the other hand, he will obviously get a full ride, probable NIL, and whatever allowance he gets from daddy, side hustles, etc. I bet he would have a pretty posh lifestyle on campus. Vs 8.5 M in pick #3 slot value? I don't see how you could say you were wrong for choosing either path.

Daddy made $160 million. He isn't worried about money. Injury risk is actually greater in the minors because of many many more games.