#18 - RHP Brian Holiday
Scouting Grades: Fastball: 50 | Slider: 55 | Curveball: 45 | Changeup 40 | Command: 55 | Overall: 40+
Background: Holiday was selected by the Cardinals in the third round of the 2024 MLB Draft. A Tampa native, he started his collegiate career close to home pitching at Florida Southwestern JC before transferring to Central Florida JC, where he helped lead the team to a national championship. He then made the leap to Division I baseball with Oklahoma State, quickly establishing himself as a workhorse and one of the premier strike-throwers in the country.
Scouting Report: Holiday is an athletic right-hander with clean mechanics and excellent body control. He generates power through efficient use of his lower half, especially in his leg drive, and pairs it with an over-the-top arm slot. Listed at 5’11” Holiday lacks the desired size you want see out of a starting pitcher but he didn’t let that affect his ability to pitch deep into starts consistently. He logged 113 innings in 2024, the second-highest total in Division I baseball, and worked at least six innings in all but one start.
Holiday’s primary pitch is a 92 MPH fastball. The pitch generates 18” of IVB and thanks to his lower launch, he releases it from a 5.6 foot vertical release height and creates a flat approach angle on the pitch. He controls the offering well, but could do a better job at consistently getting it in the top-third where it plays best. Holiday works his best-pitch, his 82 MPH gyro-slider off it. He shows advanced feel for the offering and does a great job of tunneling his flat four-seamer off it. The pitch performed exceptionally well in 2024, generating whiff and chase rates north of 40%. I think in the present the fastball-slider combo is solid, but I’m more intrigued by what it could look like with a velocity uptick. If Holiday can get more consistently in the mid-90s on his heater, I think it will be a game changer for him. Though he didn’t show it consistently, he hit 95 MPH on pitch 131 to finish a complete game with a strikeout in Game 4 of the Stillwater Regional against Florida.
Holiday also throws a big downer curve at 76 MPH, working as his third-pitch in his repertoire. The pitch has serious depth, with -17” IVB, though coming in at only 76 MPH on average. It could certainly work as a called strike weapon at the next level, if he can develop adequate feel for it. Holiday wraps up his arsenal with an 83 MPH change. The pitch will most definitely need some shape refinement in pro ball and his feel for the offering was inconsistent in 2024. I’d love to see him experiment with a new changeup with increased depth, to help him against lefties.
Future: Holiday is an advanced strike-thrower who was one of the most durable arms in college baseball in 2024. Though his pure stuff in the present is a bit underwhelming, potentially unlocking more velocity in pro ball could make his fastball and slider combo even more deadly. Holiday will also need to further develop his arsenal beyond his fastball and slider to help combat left-handed hitters. Depending on how much stuff the Cardinals can unlock, there is conceivably mid-rotation upside here but back-of-the-rotation is more likely.
