On July 17, 2022, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that with the first overall pick, the Baltimore Orioles selected shortstop Jackson Holliday, son of Matt Holliday. A few moments later, Manfred made an announcement that the Arizona Diamondbacks selected outfielder Druw Jones, son of Andruw Jones. Two sons of former MLB players were selected with the first two overall picks of the draft, that’s the first time in MLB history.
Jackson Holliday and Druw Jones just began their journeys in professional baseball. However, their fathers are former MLB All-Stars. Looking back at Matt Holliday’s and Andruw Jones’ journeys, they each had a great career in the MLB.
Firstly, let’s look at the awards. Matt Holliday was selected to the All-Star game 7 times and Andruw Jones is a 5-time All-Star. Matt Holliday is well-known as a dangerous hitter with winning the Silver Slugger award 4 times and he won the National League batting title in 2007. Meanwhile, Andruw Jones won the Silver Slugger award once and he’s a 10-time Gold Glove award winner.
In addition, let’s look at their career stats. Andruw Jones made his MLB debut with the Braves in 1996. Back then, he was just 19 years old. He was hitting .217/.265/.443 with 5 home runs and 13 RBI in 31 games in 1996. Those numbers weren’t so impressive, but in the 1996 World Series, he hit .400/.500/.750 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI. Unfortunately, the Braves didn’t win the 1996 World Series. Andruw Jones began his career in Atlanta and spent 12 years with the Braves. Later in his career, he used to play for the Dodgers, the Rangers, the White Sox and the Yankees. In total, he spent 17 seasons in the majors and slashed .254/.337/.486 with 434 home runs, 1289 RBI and 152 stolen bases. The best season in his career was probably in 2005. Andruw Jones was hitting .263/.347/.575 with 51 home runs and 128 RBI. He finished 2nd in the NL MVP voting.
Moreover, Matt Holliday was selected by the Rockies in the 7th round of the 1998 draft. It took a while for Holliday to make it into the big leagues. On April 16, 2004, Holliday made his MLB debut in the Rockies uniform at age 24. He had a great rookie season. Holliday batted .290/.349/.488 with 14 home runs and 57 RBI. Holliday finished 5th in the 2004 NL Rookie of the Year voting. Holliday had a good start in his career and three years later, he embraced a fantastic 2007 season. Holliday slashed .340/.405/.607 with 36 home runs and 137 RBI and he finished 2nd in the NL MVP voting. In total, Holliday hit .299/.379/.510 with 316 home runs, 1220 RBI and 108 stolen bases.
Andruw Jones and Matt Holliday each had a great career. They each had 1200+ RBI and 100+ stolen bases. Moreover, they were very close to winning the MVP award. Andruw Jones crushed more home runs than Matt Holliday did. But, Holliday did collect more hits than Jones. These two outfielders already retired. Nonetheless, their sons’ journeys have just begun. It will be worth watching their development and let’s see when they will make it into the big leagues.
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