At first, he was a mascot, and then he was a marvel, and now more than a decade later, he is complete. He talks in a similar way to them. He is similar to them. He is similar to them. He will be known as one of them when his name is called early in the Major League Baseball's amateur draft.
He's not the only one with a familiar name expected to make it to the big league. He is the son of Andruw. The son of Lou is a potential top 5 pick. The son of Carl could be a top 10 pick. The fathers of the two first-round picks played in the National Football League. Tucker Toman is the son of a coach.
No one in this draft, or any recent draft for that matter, has a baseball legacy like that. His dad, Matt, the seven-time MLB All-Star; his grandfather, Tom, a college coach for four decades; his uncle, Josh, currently the coach at Oklahoma State, were all involved in baseball. The clubs that helped rear him fostered that.
At 3 years old, he ambled around the locker room with a plastic bat. The New York Times shouted out his lefty swing before the World Series opener. The son grew from a preternaturally talented kid to a gifted preteen after eight seasons in St. Louis. In New York, as a 13-year-old, he befriended Judge. In his dad's final year, back to Colorado, a new generation of Rockies and a teenager learned to appreciate what Matt did.
"I didn't have to look up to someone I didn't know." He was there all the time.
It is said that great baseball dad doesn't mean great baseball son, even if the draft suggests otherwise. Bo Bichette, Joc Pederson, Bobby Witt Jr., Jeremy Pea are some of the baseball players. It doesn't hurt a kid's chances if they have a nurturing complement. Jones didn't become the consensus top prospect by mistake. They ascended as a result of years of hard work going from good prospects to the future elite of the sport.
There was always a bond between our dads and us. We all play the same games our fathers did. Being raised in baseball gives us an advantage over other people.
The cool air stung Jackson's skin, and his mind told him to look to his right, where Nolan Arenado was fielding ground balls, impervious to the elements. Arenado went to Oklahoma a couple of years ago to teach the master class in the education of the brothers. All he could think to himself was, "This is what my dad is saying when he emphasizes the importance of work."
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Arenado was taken aback by the methodology. His approach still sticks with Arenado even though he was more lithe than his dad. He wasn't looking to impress anyone. He didn't want to hit the ball over the fence. He would spit on pitches he didn't like, waiting for a ball to travel into the strike zone to hit the opposite field.
He was trying to make sure Arenado was swinging at strikes.
Matt didn't think this would happen. His grandfather hung a whiffle ball on the porch when he was a child. He whacked it until it lost it's shape. He had a natural ability to get his body in a good position to hit the ball.
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The brothers were regulars at the ballpark. The life Matt knew was that of his father, Tom, who found his greatest success in an era where coaches did everything. Matt learned the value of the grind at the park where he worked.
Matt wanted them to grow up at the baseball field. Good and bad work ethic is what we want to see. I wanted to be with them, that's the main thing for me. They should be involved. We won't do this family.
The club house has excessive energy and little rules. It is a child's dream land. The best days were the ones with victories. After a loss, kids couldn't go into the locker room, but a win gave them the chance to see his dad and some of his friends.
Leslee and Matt were married when Jackson was born. Matt was the first of the new generation of Rockies to have a child, so for Troy Tulowitzki and the others, he was the main focus. He was a big fan of baseball as much as they were.
When practice becomes fun, it's about access to playing and practicing. It becomes constant play because players and coaches love to hit grounders or fly balls to children. He was raised in the cages.
It wasn't changed by going to St. Louis. There was a group of people who would send bats to the boys. All of them were bowling over with his skills and knowledge. The wild one was the one with personality and verve to spare, while the little details of the big leaguers who surrounded him were studied by the other person.
"If you're around a bunch of elite professional athletes, even the smallest sponge is going to pick something up," he said. Jackson was a lot more than that. He looked at the things that were happening. He heard what he was saying. They made you happy whenever they were around. They liked having a bat in their hand. They were fond of swinging it. We had to remind them not to throw a ball inside the building if they did not have a bat.
Jackson was a month into his freshman year at the high school when his parents and uncle left. Matt spoke to him the same way he would a new player in the big league. He said you need to be one of the 750 best players in the world to play baseball. Spending hours in a big league locker room isn't the only thing that requires more than that.
Matt didn't attend the prom afterparty in 1998. He thought he was going to Pittsburgh with the 15th pick in the draft after he crushed the tryout for the Pirates. Clint Johnston, a two-way player out of Commodores, was taken by thePirates. Matt was thought to go to Oklahoma State to play both football and baseball, but his uncle suggested Colorado take a flyer on him in the seventh round. Matt retired with a.299/.379/.510 line and 316 home runs.
Jackson is like his father in many ways. He is willing to give things in exchange for the game. He doesn't consume alcohol. He is not a party person. He catches fish. He plays a game of golf. His girlfriend is watching movies with him. He plays a sport.
When the school returned to in-person classes in the late 2020s, Holliday decided to stay at home. He was able to finish his schoolwork on his own. There was a 6-foot-1 man and 180 pounds. His speed didn't change. His glove wasn't altered. He had upgraded his swing from pretty to punishing after all the hours he had been in a classroom.
The reports from scouts began to tell a new story about him when he reached his senior spring. This was no longer possible. The thing was present. He hit the ball with his bat. He set a national high school record with 89 hits, more than any other Oklahoma prep. He had 17 home runs, 30 stolen bases, 33 walks and seven strikeouts. It's the only high school season that has topped it. It's simply the beginning, according to Matt.
He said that he would have a chance to be special when his strength and man muscles collide.
As far as the numbers were concerned, what stood out to Matt the most was how he conducted himself as his star rose. People were watching how he would respond to a bad call and how he would wait for the phone to ring. Those hopes were dashed quickly. Kids were on second base. He wasn't a home run pimp. He was told by Matt and Leslee to not give anything to people who were looking for bullets.
I need to represent myself with high standards. I try to treat people well.
It's a common challenge for sons of big leaguers to avoid being labeled silver-spoons. Jones responded to an "overrated" chant with a home run. The average age of the players in the Cape Cod Baseball League against which Collier has held his own is 312 years younger than him. There is a chance that the son of CC Sabathia will be picked. It has proved too great for them.
The process has been made easy by the parents. We're just sitting in a parking lot and working out. We aren't taking it very seriously. You don't know when the draft is going to happen. We're having a good summer.
In the summer, there is a lot of travel ball and putt-putt get-togethers for the kids, and Gracyn is the most cutthroat of them all.
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Matt said that he was a better parent than he was. If it weren't for those years in the clubs, he wouldn't have learned so much as a teenager. The way for a skill-intensive approach was paved by him. The carte blanche to go up the road to the gorgeous new stadium of a perennially strong college program is held by only one person. When he's in Jupiter, Florida, he can ask for a cage to take swings and wind up at the Cards' complex because he has become who he wants to be.
The Baltimore Orioles are considering five players, including Green, Jones, and Lee. Arizona is considering another person. The Texas Rangers are the third choice. He has spent his life in this game and knows for a fact that he wants to play baseball for a living. He is here because of the people who helped him along the way and the people who took him to new heights.
If he didn't grow up in the game he wouldn't be as prepared. I wouldn't be comfortable with him going out into that world if he didn't know it.
He knows what's going on inside and out. Baseball is in his blood, just like it is in Druw Jones and many other people. Arenado and Judge are satisfied that the little kid they used to know as the mascot has turned into something else. He made himself one of them, not necessarily what he was going to be, but what he made of himself.
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