Canadiens: Who Will Be The Big Earner? Dobson Or Hutson?
While it's only early July, Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes has already said he would be comfortable starting the season with the team he has put together. The acquisition of Noah Dobson and Zack Bolduc could be game changers for the Habs, who will be expected to take another step forward this season. The objective shouldn't be to be in the mix anymore; it should be to qualify for the playoffs. If the roster remains unchanged, here are the lines and pairings I would like to see.
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Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
MLB Draft 2025: Rockies select Ethan Holliday fourth overall, 27 years after drafting his father
The Colorado Rockies have selected high school shortstop Ethan Holliday with the fourth overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft on Sunday. The pick continues a dynasty with the Holliday family — and lands the young shortstop with the same team that drafted his father. Holliday, the second-best player on Yahoo Sports' Draft Board, was seen as a potential No. 1 overall pick. That honor instead went to Eli Willits, also a high school shortstop, who was selected first overall by the Washington Nationals. Advertisement Holliday is the younger brother of Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday, the first overall pick of the 2022 MLB Draft, and the son of former MLB All-Star Matt Holliday. The Hollidays are the first pair of brothers to both be taken first overall in the MLB Draft, and they have one more brother, 2027 prospect Reed Holliday, in reserve. Notably, Matt Holliday was drafted by the Rockies in the seventh round of the 1998 draft. He made his MLB debut with Colorado in 2004, spending four years with the team before bouncing around and spending extended time with the St. Louis Cardinals. Matt Holliday ended his career in Colorado, returning to the Rockies in 2018 before retiring. Ethan Holliday might have even more upside than his brother When Jackson Holliday was emerging as a top prospect as a high schooler, there were whispers that MLB teams might like his younger brother even more. Advertisement To be clear, Ethan is a very different player than Jackson. The case for Jackson as a future All-Star hinges on a combination of bat-to-ball skills and middle-infield defense, elevated by an advanced feel for the game under his father's tutelage. Ethan, meanwhile, has a frame more similar to his father, measuring in at 6-foot-4, 210 pounds (Jackson is listed at 6-foot, 185). That would be massive for a shortstop but not unprecedented, given the likes of Corey Seager and Elly De La Cruz. Still, Ethan is expected by many to land at third base and provide plenty of defensive value there. There will be more pressure on Ethan's bat if he ends up at third, but he seems more than equipped to oblige there. Holliday has the highest offensive upside of any player in this draft class, from monster exit velocities to a feel for the strike zone similar to his brother's. Advertisement Ethan laid waste to the high school competition in Oklahoma this season, posting a 2.046 OPS and 16 home runs in 118 plate appearances across 32 games for Stillwater High School. ... but there's some risk Holliday has been seen as a top prospect for years, but there is a catch. Yahoo Sports' Jake Mintz noted earlier this month that Holliday's stock took a hit during the showcase circuit last summer, when he whiffed on 37% of in-zone fastballs, signaling some major swing-and-miss concerns. However, as Jordan Shusterman laid out for Yahoo Sports, Holliday's weak showcase was explained as a badly timed, temporary flaw in his swing mechanics, which has since been corrected. His future in baseball likely hinges on whether that's true. Advertisement
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
MLB Draft 2025: Mariners select LSU LHP Kade Anderson with No. 3 overall pick
Kade Anderson is headed to Seattle. The Mariners selected the LSU pitcher, who is fresh off his Men's College World Series championship run, with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft on Sunday night. Advertisement Anderson was a favorite to go No. 1 overall, which would have made him the second LSU pitcher to go first in the draft in the past three years, following current Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes. Instead, the Washington Nationals took shortstop Eli Willits with the first pick. The southpaw posted a 3.18 ERA across 18 starts for LSU last season, striking out an NCAA-best 180 batters in 119 innings while earning All-American honors and the Baseball America Pitcher of the Year award. He ended his season on a high note when he threw a shutout against Coastal Carolina in Game 1 of the MCWS final, the first shutout in a final since 2018. Kade Anderson is one of the safest picks of the 2025 MLB Draft class If you had to bet money on any player in this year's draft class having a lengthy MLB career, it should probably be on Anderson. The 21-year-old excelled in the SEC, one of the harshest environments for a player outside of affiliated ball, and presents a complete package of stuff, command and track record. Advertisement He's so pro-ready that it's not inconceivable that he's playing for the Nationals' big-league squad around this time in 2026. As Yahoo Sports' Jordan Shusterman broke down on his big board, Anderson's dominance comes from his four-pitch mix: a four-seamer that sits 93 mph but has been up to 97, an upper-80s slider, a tumbling, mid-80s changeup and a low-80s curveball. He can throw all four for strikes, and they all look usable in the majors. Per Yahoo Sports' Jake Mintz, a common draft comp for Anderson is New York Yankees star Max Fried, another athletic lefty who commands a deep arsenal of pitches. Advertisement ... but he doesn't have the highest ceiling Anderson has followed a path similar to Skenes, but it should be made clear that there are some major differences between Anderson and arguably the best pitching prospect in a decade. Whereas Skenes was an overpowering right-hander with triple-digit velocity and an unhittable breaking ball, with Cy Young potential from the beginning, Anderson's ceiling is seen as more limited, given that he's a slight left-hander who sits in the low-to-mid-90s with a variety of established secondary offerings. So much of drafting and developing pitchers is built on projectability. Scouts love big pitchers with big velocity like Skenes because of what they can become down the line. Skenes was obviously pro-ready, then got even better by adding his famous splinker to an unfair arsenal. Comparably, Anderson is more of a finished product, which is good for his path to the majors but means there isn't much more room for him to grow. He could be an ace, but he could also be a No. 4 starter at best. Advertisement The other main knock is that Anderson underwent Tommy John surgery in high school. Pitchers nearly always recover back to 100 percent after their first Tommy John these days, but a second one is much trickier. Then again, the Nationals have never worried that much about injury concerns in the draft. To summarize, the Mariners likely won't have to wait long for Anderson to become a major-league asset. He absolutely has the tools to be an All-Star, but perhaps profiles more as a mid-rotation starter than a frontline ace.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Rockies grab Ethan Holliday, son of Matt and brother of Jackson, with No. 4 pick in MLB Draft
The Holliday family baseball legacy continued to grow Sunday, when the Colorado Rockies selected high school shortstop Ethan Holliday with the No. 4 pick in the MLB Draft. Holliday, 18, becomes the third member of his family to be drafted, and the second to be selected in the first round. His older brother Jackson was picked No. 1 by the Baltimore Orioles in 2022, while their father, Matt, was a seventh-round pick of the Colorado Rockies in 1998. Now, Ethan joins the same franchise where his father rose to prominence some 20 years ago. Advertisement Baseball runs deep in the Holliday family. Matt Holliday was a seven-time All-Star outfielder who played 15 seasons for the Rockies, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees. Jackson Holliday reached the majors with Baltimore last season at the age of 20, appearing in 60 games and hitting .189. He is hitting .259 with 12 home runs and 14 doubles in 87 games so far this season. Like Jackson, Ethan is a middle infielder. But while Jackson is listed at 6 feet, 185 pounds, Ethan is built more like his father, at 6-4, 200 pounds. The slot value of the No. 4 pick is $8,770,900. The Rockies have a total bonus pool of $15,723,400 — the fifth-highest amount — for the first 10 rounds of the 20-round draft. The Athletic's Keith Law ranked Ethan Holliday as the No. 1 prospect in the draft. Here's Law's scouting report. 'Holliday is probably the best-known player in the class, thanks to his famous father, Matt, and increasingly famous brother, Jackson, but also because there have been plenty of points in the past year-plus when Ethan has looked like the best prospect in the class. 'He has easy plus power already and projects to be more similar to his father in that regard than his brother, though he's not as advanced a hitter as Jackson was at the same age. Ethan has been inconsistent this spring at the plate, with his front side flying open as he tries too hard to get to that power, leaving him vulnerable to stuff on the outer third, although that's a fixable problem. He does know the strike zone, and rarely chased stuff out of the zone last summer and fall. 'He's big for shortstop but has great hands and a plus arm, showing better range this spring and more consistency on routine plays; if he moves to third base, it'll be because he outgrows short, not because of a lack of ability. Advertisement 'He's not a sure thing, given some of his swing-and-miss issues (such as on velocity up in the zone) and the mechanical adjustments he'll have to make, but he offers the best combination of upside and probability in the class.' (Photo of Ethan Holliday: Sarah Phipps / The Oklahoman / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
