Four sons of former MLB players picked in first round of draft
- Kendall Baker, author of Axios Sports
Matt and Jackson Holliday during the 2007 NLCS trophy presentation. Photo: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images
Sunday's MLB draft was a family affair. For the first time ever, four sons of former big leaguers went in the first round.
- Jackson Holliday, son of Matt, went No. 1 to the Orioles, joining Ken Griffey Jr. (1987) as the only sons of former MLB players to go No. 1.
- Druw Jones, son of Andruw, went No. 2 to the Diamondbacks; Justin Crawford, son of Carl, went No. 17 to the Phillies, and Cam Collier, son of Lou, went No. 18 to the Reds.
Plus: Kumar Rocker (No. 3 pick) and Elijah Green (No. 5 pick) have dads who played in the NFL, and Brooks Lee (No. 8 pick) played for his father in college. Turns out, that whole "nature" thing doesn't hurt.
The big picture: My most purely nostalgic childhood memories are playing catch with my dad, and I know I'm not alone in that. So when Holliday and Jones went back-to-back, I immediately thought of those father-son relationships and smiled.
Go deeper: ESPN's Jeff Passan dove into Holliday's journey from the little kid who grew up at the ballpark to the teenager who rakes...
"At first, he was a mascot, and then he was a marvel, and now, more than a decade after he first toddled into a major league clubhouse, Jackson Holliday's transformation is complete. He talks like them. He looks like them. He plays like them. And on Sunday night, when his name was called first ... it codified his newest identity: one of them."
What's next: 80 picks were made Sunday night. The draft resumes today with Rounds 3-10, followed by Rounds 11-20 tomorrow.
Go deeper: First-round recap (CBS Sports)