JAWS and the 2024 Corridor of Fame Poll: Matt Holliday

The next article is a part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing take a look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2024 Corridor of Fame poll. For an in depth introduction to this yr’s poll, and different candidates within the collection, use the instrument above; an introduction to JAWS will be discovered right here. For a tentative schedule, see right here. All WAR figures discuss with the Baseball-Reference model except in any other case indicated.

At his listed dimension of 6-foot-4, 240 kilos, Matt Holliday was constructed like a soccer participant. He may simply have gone in that route, having excelled as a quarterback in highschool and acquired scholarship provides from big-time faculty packages. Holliday got here from a baseball-rich household, nevertheless, and his coronary heart was on the diamond, so he selected to comply with within the footsteps of his father and older brother, each of whom performed professionally. He surpassed each not simply by reaching the majors however by changing into a star, making seven All-Star groups in a 15-year profession spent with the Rockies, A’s, Cardinals, and Yankees. He gained a Coors Area-aided batting title in addition to NLCS MVP honors whereas main the Rockies to their solely World Collection berth in 2007. Successful appeared to comply with Holliday, or maybe it was the opposite approach round; 9 instances in these 15 seasons his groups made the playoffs, with three journeys to the World Collection together with a championship in 2011.

Matthew Thomas Holliday was born on January 15, 1980 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. His father, Tom Holliday, spent a yr within the Pirates’ group earlier than pursuing teaching on the collegiate stage. From 1978–96, he served as Oklahoma State College’s pitching coach and recruiting coordinator, then took over as head coach from ’97–2003. His oldest son, Josh Holliday (b. 1976), starred at Stillwater Excessive College forward of Matt; the 2 performed on the identical group in 1995. Josh was drafted by the Twins within the 14th spherical in 1995 however as an alternative selected to go to Oklahoma State, the place he performed for his father and helped the group to the Faculty World Collection in ’96 and ’99. Drafted once more by the Blue Jays within the ninth spherical in 1999, he spent two seasons enjoying professionally earlier than going the faculty teaching route; he took over as Oklahoma State’s head coach in 2013, and nonetheless holds the job.

As youngsters, the Holliday boys received to observe OSU stars comparable to Robin Ventura and Pete Incaviglia set NCAA information. Matt starred in baseball, soccer, and basketball as a youth; his father coached him within the final of these sports activities throughout the baseball offseason. Massive for his age even earlier than rising to his grownup dimension, he was at all times when enjoying with buddies: “[T]hey would rig the foundations to make it truthful for everyone,” wrote the New York Occasions‘ Tyler Kepner in 2007. “In soccer, Matt needed to be quarterback for each groups. In a house run derby, he needed to hit three homers to get credit score for one.”

At Stillwater Excessive, Holliday earned All-American honors and his area’s Gatorade Participant of the 12 months in each soccer (as a QB, he threw for over 6,000 yards with 68 touchdowns and broke a number of state information set by Troy Aikman) and baseball. He was recruited as a QB by Notre Dame, Florida State, Tennessee, Miami and different high faculty packages. He signed a letter of intent to play each sports activities at Oklahoma State, however baseball had a maintain on him. Scouts considered him as a five-tool participant however one thing of a wild card since soccer was nonetheless within the image. His uncle, Dave Holliday, a scout for the Rockies, really useful him, and the group drafted him within the seventh spherical in 1998. He signed for a $842,500 bonus (or thereabouts, as even inside Baseball America, sources differ). The bonus — greater than some late first-rounders and most second-rounders — set a report for a participant taken so late within the draft. As a part of the deal, Holliday may return to school to pursue soccer after three seasons.

Holliday was drafted as a 3rd baseman, and commenced his professional profession on the scorching nook, hitting .342/.413/.521 in 32 video games for the Rockies’ Arizona League affiliate in 1998. Excessive error totals and a failure to totally understand his recreation energy saved him off of Baseball America Prime 100 Prospects lists. He hit .264/.350/.435 with 16 homers whereas making 37 errors at A-level Asheville in 1999, then slipped to .274/.335/.389 with seven homers and 32 errors at Excessive-A Salem the subsequent yr.

In 2001, the Rockies moved Holliday to left subject whereas having him repeat at Salem. He hit .275/.358/.475 with 11 homers in 72 video games earlier than his season ended as a consequence of Tommy John surgical procedure on his proper (throwing) elbow. Whereas he was recovering, the Rockies signed him to a six-year deal that assured him a minimal of $700,000 (extra if he was within the majors), added him to the 40-man roster, and closed the door on soccer. He spent 2002 and ’03 at Double-A, slugging within the .390s with a complete of twenty-two homers, however a robust exhibiting within the Arizona Fall League after the latter season saved him on the radar nonetheless.

The Rockies assigned the 24-year-old Holliday to Triple-A Colorado Springs to start out the 2004 season, however he performed simply six video games there earlier than getting referred to as up when Preston Wilson landed on what was then the disabled checklist, with Larry Walker already there as a consequence of a groin damage that may maintain him out till June 22. Holliday debuted on April 16, 2004, going 0-for-4 towards the Cardinals’ Matt Morris and Steve Kline in St. Louis (a big element in his profession, he later stated). After one other 0-fer, he went 3-for-3 with a double off Woody Williams on April 18. On April 22, in his third recreation at Coors Area, he hit an RBI double and two-run homer off the Dodgers’ Jose Lima. He hit .317/.367/.594 via his first 29 video games, however he cooled off earlier than a left elbow sprain ended his season in mid-September, ending at .290/.349/.488 with 14 homers. In that high-offense setting, such manufacturing equated to only a 103 OPS+, and with subpar protection (-9 DRS), simply 0.5 WAR.

Holliday shortly improved, hitting .307/.361/.505 (114 OPS+) with 19 homers, 14 steals, and a couple of.8 WAR in 2005 regardless of lacking practically six weeks as a consequence of a damaged proper pinky, suffered whereas making a headfirst dive. He broke out in 2006, hitting 34 homers – another than he’d hit in his first two seasons mixed — to go along with a .326/.387/.586 (137 OPS+) line. He made his first All-Star group, and even acquired down-ballot point out within the MVP voting. In 2007, he topped nearly all of that, hitting .340/.405/.607 whereas main the league in batting common, hits (216), doubles (50), RBI (137), and complete bases (.386); his slugging share ranked third, his 151 OPS+ fourth, his 6.0 WAR seventh.

The Rockies had gone six years since their final end at .500 or higher, and 12 since their lone playoff look. With 14 video games to play, they had been 76-72, 6.5 video games out of first place and 4.5 again within the Wild Card race. With Holliday hitting an unreal .429/.525/.816 with 5 homers and 15 RBI in 59 plate appearances, they went 13-1 to tie the Padres for the Wild Card spot at 89-73. The 2 groups met for a Sport 163 playoff at Coors Area, a wild, 13-inning affair. Holliday walked and scored within the first inning because the Rockies constructed a 2-0 lead towards Jake Peavy, however Adrián González gave the Padres a 4-3 lead with a third-inning grand slam off Josh Fogg. Holliday tied the sport at 5-5 with an RBI single following a Troy Tulowitzki double to start out the fifth. By way of 9 innings, the 2 groups had been tied 6-6, however the Padres lastly broke via with Scott Hairston‘s two-run homer within the high of the thirteenth. To not be outdone, the Rockies teed off on Padres nearer Trevor Hoffman within the backside of the thirteenth, with Kazuo Matsui and Tulowitzki hitting back-to-back doubles, and Holliday knotting the sport with an RBI triple off the best subject scoreboard, simply over Brian Giles‘ head. Hoffman deliberately walked Todd Helton, however when Jamey Carroll hit a line drive to proper subject, Holliday tagged up. Giles’ throw beat him dwelling; Holliday slid round Michael Barrett’s left foot, which was blocking the plate, however the catcher misplaced the ball. Umpire Tim McClelland hesitated for a number of seconds earlier than calling Holliday secure, although through replays, it appeared he had by no means touched dwelling plate. There was no mechanism in place by which to overview the decision, and the Padres didn’t make a lot of an effort to get the umpires to confer, so the Rockies gained.

Holliday and the Rockies saved rolling, sweeping the Phillies within the Division Collection and the Diamondbacks within the NLCS, with the slugger homering twice in every collection and incomes MVP honors within the latter on the premise of a .333/.412/.733 efficiency. He homered in Sport 3 of the World Collection as nicely, however the Rockies had been swept by the Purple Sox.

After the season, Holliday completed a detailed second behind Jimmy Rollins within the NL MVP voting. He signed a two-year, $23 million extension in January 2008, then adopted up with one other All-Star marketing campaign (.321/.409/.538, 138 OPS+, 25 HR, 5.9 WAR). The Rockies slipped to 74 wins, nevertheless, and with Holliday’s free company only a yr away, they determined to commerce away their huge bopper. On November 10, 2008, he was despatched to the A’s in change for outfielder Carlos González and pitchers Greg Smith and Huston Road.

He didn’t keep lengthy within the Bay Space. The A’s had gotten so far as the ALCS in 2006 however declined to 76 wins in ’07 and 75 wins in ’08. They had been within the midst of charting an identical course in 2009 once they flipped Holliday to the Cardinals in change for a trio of gamers (pitcher Clayton Mortensen, outfielder Shane Peterson, and infielder Brett Wallace) who by no means panned out and who mixed to play in simply eight video games for Oakland. Holliday, who had hit for a 120 OPS+ with 11 homers in 93 recreation for the A’s, hit for a 169 OPS+ (.353/.419/.604) with 13 homers in 63 video games for the Cardinals, whom he helped win the NL Central.

Holliday went simply 2-for-12 because the Cardinals had been swept by the Dodgers within the Division Collection. Although he homered off Clayton Kershaw within the second inning of Sport 2, he dropped what would have been a game-ending fly ball off the bat of James Loney within the backside of the ninth, and barely averted getting hit within the groin. The pinch-runner for Loney got here round to attain the tying run, and the Dodgers scored the successful run 5 batters later through Mark Loretta’s single.

“I received caught. I can catch a ball hit proper at me,” Holliday advised reporters afterwards. “It went within the lights, and I couldn’t see the ball. Hit me within the abdomen… I used to be simply hoping it might hit my glove.”

Regardless of the gaffe, Holliday had such a optimistic expertise in St. Louis that he re-signed with the group upon reaching free company, agreeing to a seven-year, $120 million deal, which might stand as the biggest in franchise historical past till Paul Goldschmidt inked a five-year, $130 million extension in 2019. Upon induction to the Cardinals’ Corridor of Fame in 2022, Holliday stated that making his main league debut in St. Louis whereas with the Rockies “started my love affair with dreaming of sometime being a St. Louis Cardinal.”

Close to the tip of the 2009 season, as free company approached, teammate Adam Wainwright advised him, ‘You recognize, when you don’t signal again right here, I’m going to peg you each time I face you the remainder of your profession.”

“I believed, ‘Nicely, you don’t throw that tough, so I’m not too frightened about it,’” joked Holliday.

Safe in his new dwelling, Holliday made the NL All-Star group in every of the subsequent three seasons, hitting a mixed .302/.385/.517 (146 OPS+) whereas averaging 26 homers and 4.6 WAR, with a excessive of 5.9 WAR in 2010 because of his 7 DRS; he would spend the remainder of his profession within the pink. The Cardinals missed the playoffs in 2010 whereas going 86-76. Holliday was restricted to 124 video games in 2011 as a consequence of an appendectomy, a quad pressure, and tendinitis in his proper center finger; he performed simply 4 video games after September 13 and was a bystander because the group eked out a Wild Card berth with a win and a Braves loss on the ultimate day of the season. He additionally entered the annals of weird baseball accidents when he left the group’s August 22 recreation after a moth flew into his proper ear throughout a recreation and determined to remain there, a lot to the left fielder’s chagrin.

Within the postseason, Holliday didn’t drive in a run in both the Cardinals’ Division Collection win over the Phillies or their World Collection win over the Rangers, however he hit .435/.500/.652 of their NLCS win over the Brewers. Sadly for him, he missed a lot of Sport 6 of the World Collection and all of Sport 7. With the bases loaded within the sixth inning of Sport 6, he was picked off of third base, and Adrián Beltré by chance stepped on his proper hand, injuring his pinky and straining his wrist. The Cardinals needed to substitute him on the roster however gained the collection nonetheless.

Holliday was much less impactful within the 2012 postseason regardless of going 2-for-3 with an HBP and a solo homer within the Cardinals’ Wild Card win over the Braves. He hit a mixed .224/.296/.306 total because the group finally bowed to the Giants within the NLCS.

Holliday missed out on making the All-Star group in 2013 regardless of a .300/.389/.490 (142 OPS+) season, although his career-worst -14 DRS led to him ending with simply 2.6 WAR, his lowest complete since his 0.5 WAR as a rookie. He did assist the Cardinals to their first division title since 2009, and hit a lopsided .246/.268/.507 with 4 homers and 10 RBI within the postseason because the group made it again to the World Collection. With the Cardinals down two video games to 1 towards the Pirates within the Division Collection, his two-run sixth-inning homer off Charlie Morton supplied all of the offense the group wanted in Sport 4. He hit an enormous two-run homer off the Dodgers’ Ricky Nolasco in a 4-2 win in Sport 4 of the NLCS, and broke a 2-2 tie with a decisive two-run double off the Purple Sox’s Junichi Tazawa within the seventh inning of Sport 3 of the World Collection. The Cardinals gained that recreation to drag forward two video games to 1, however that turned out to be their last win of the season.

After one other strong season (127 OPS+, 3.3 WAR) whereas serving to the Cardinals to a division title in 2014, Holliday hit an enormous go-ahead three-run homer off Pedro Báez – who had simply relieved a faltering Kershaw — within the seventh inning of the Division Collection opener. He went simply 7-for-33 with out an RBI within the Cardinals’ different eight postseason video games; they had been once more ousted by the Giants within the NLCS. A recurrent quad pressure restricted Holliday to 73 video games in 2015. He earned All-Star honors for the seventh and last time of his profession on the power of a .303/.417/.421 (130 OPS+) first half, however hit simply .196/.305/.373 (84 OPS+) in 21 second-half video games and went simply 2-for-16 in a Division Collection loss to the Cubs.

Sadly, he wouldn’t come near enjoying a full season once more. Within the last assured yr of his contract, the 36-year-old Holliday hit .246/.322/.461 (107 OPS+) with 20 homers in 110 video games, lacking seven weeks after a fastball from the Cubs’ Mike Montgomery fractured his proper thumb. Simply earlier than the Cardinals activated him, normal supervisor John Mozeliak knowledgeable him that the group wouldn’t be selecting up his $17 million choice, and shortly afterwards advised the general public as nicely. Holliday hit a pinch-homer off the Pirates’ Zach Phillips in his return on September 30, and picked up an RBI single within the pinch off Juan Nicasio amid a game-tying rally the subsequent day. Within the season’s last recreation, supervisor Mike Matheny inserted him as a defensive alternative for a one-pitch cameo within the ninth inning, giving him the chance to obtain a farewell ovation from the Busch Stadium crowd.

Holliday hit free company and landed a one-year, $13 million deal to be the Yankees’ major designated hitter. His time in pinstripes began out nicely sufficient. On Might 3, he hit the three hundredth dwelling run of his profession, a three-run shot at Yankee Stadium off Marcus Stroman.

Holliday hit .262/.366/.511 with 15 homers earlier than touchdown on the injured checklist with what was later recognized because the Epstein-Barr virus, which triggered him fatigue and physique aches. After lacking 14 video games, he hit simply .174/.219/.292 the remainder of the best way whereas being sidelined a further 4 weeks as a consequence of a decrease again pressure and ending with a career-worst 95 OPS+. Unable to discover a deal to his liking as a free agent, he sat out the primary 4 months of 2018, however in late July agreed to a minor-league take care of the Rockies, who had been en path to a Wild Card berth. He performed one recreation with the group’s Rookie League affiliate and 15 extra at Triple-A Albuquerque earlier than becoming a member of the large membership in late August. Within the third recreation of his comeback, he hit a pinch-homer off the Cardinals’ John Gant to interrupt a scoreless tie and spur a 9-1 win. He hit a decent .283/.415/.434 in 65 PA, and performed in all 4 of the group’s postseason video games, going 2-for-8 with a double; the Rockies beat the Cubs within the NL Wild Card recreation however had been swept by the Brewers.

After the season, Holliday returned to Stillwater, becoming a member of older brother Josh’s employees as a volunteer assistant coach for Oklahoma State, “answerable for the group’s offensive growth and outfield play,” in accordance with the OSU web site. He’s nonetheless in that function after briefly accepting after which resigning from the job because the Cardinals’ bench coach final winter as a consequence of household causes. As for that household, in July 2022, Jackson Holliday — the oldest of his 4 youngsters — was chosen out of Stillwater Excessive College with the primary decide of the newbie draft by the Orioles. He positioned ninth on our Prime 100 Prospects Checklist within the spring of 2023, and after rocketing via 4 ranges this previous season whereas hitting .323/442/.499 with 12 homers and 24 steals, the 20-year-old shortstop is presently the top-ranked prospect on The Board. Youthful brother Ethan Holliday, who’s already 6-foot-4 like his father, is thought-about a possible high decide for the 2025 draft as nicely.

Holliday doesn’t have the numbers for Cooperstown. In the perfect stretch of his profession, from 2007–12, he ranked eighth amongst all place gamers in WAR, that whereas rating amongst his league’s high 10 simply thrice, and by no means greater than seventh. His -43 runs as a left fielder merely restricted his worth. However like Walker earlier than him and Nolan Arenado after him, he confirmed that an excellent hitter at Coors Area might be an excellent hitter elsewhere, even whereas the house/highway splits appeared totally different (clearly, the Cardinals had been by no means scared away):

Holliday ranks thirty sixth amongst left fielders in JAWS (one spot above one other Cardinals legend, Lou Brock, whose full influence I imagine isn’t captured by WAR). He was a becoming alternative for the Cardinals’ Corridor of Fame, in fact, and along with his progeny poised to make an influence within the majors, his profession will proceed to be celebrated.