Do Not Give Up On Matt Holliday

We’re a third of the way through the 2005 season and Matt Holliday has 4 HRs and 22 RBIs. His average is sitting at a very nice .303 and he’s notched 6 SBs in 7 attempts. His run total (23) isn’t great, but it puts him right in the middle of the pack. His slugging % is .461. Compare that to Phil Nevin, who’s sitting at .446 with much better numbers.

So why do you want to keep this former 7th round pick? Well after bottoming out at .255 a few weeks ago Holliday’s been on nice little upswing. He’s only posted 4 no-hit games and struck out about once every 10 ABs. He’s been getting the average up, now it’s time for the power numbers to come. The Rockies are kicking off a 13 game home stand and Holliday’s just heating up.

Don’t be distracted by Hawpe or Atkins: Holliday’s the bat you want on this team. He’s strong, he’s athletic, he makes contact, he’s got a level swing, and he can take it out to right-center.

He was probably a sleeper going into your draft and might have even been dropped after his slow start depending on your league format. Matt’s minor league stats are nothing but mediocre, but this guy will be a good baseball player.

He topped out at 16/64 in the minors but managed to keep his slugging % in the very high .400s-low .500s. If you’re looking for comparison players, Vernon Wells did exactly the same thing. Wells’ minor league high was 16/66 and his avg. slugging numbers were almost identical to Holliday’s.

Matt’s only 25 and he’s going to settle in at 3 or 4 in the lineup and start producing 25/95 seasons very soon. He should keep the average around .300 and 15 SBs shouldn’t be a reach.