Colin Holderman claims he had the best offseason of his baseball career, one where he prioritized his diet and strength training to gain weight back while adding new pitches to his repertoire.
The Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed reliever had no shortage of motivation, given his poor performance at the most critical juncture of the season last year.
Over a five-game stretch between July 28 and Aug. 7, Holderman allowed 11 runs (nine earned) on nine hits and three walks and four of the six home runs he surrendered last season. He had blown saves in two games and took the loss in two others.
“That was tough. That was one of the hardest things to go through,” Holderman said. “I love a little extra motivation going into the offseason. I need that. I love having the chip on my shoulder. I think I’m that close to being an elite reliever.”
The sinkerballer has returned to form this spring, stretching his string of scoreless appearances to five consecutive in a 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in a Grapefruit League game Wednesday in Port Charlotte. It marked the third consecutive game that Holderman has recorded two strikeouts.
The Rays hit back-to-back home runs in the second inning, when Eloy Jimenez hit a two-run blast and Danny Jansen followed with a solo shot off Pirates starter Andrew Heaney. The Pirates answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI double by Ji Hwan Bae, who scored on Adam Frazier’s groundout. Tampa Bay padded its lead in the seventh, on back-to-back RBI doubles by Bob Seymour and Jamie Westbrook off lefty Tim Mayza.
That’s a total reversal from last spring, when an illness that spread throughout the clubhouse hit Holderman particularly hard. He arrived at 6-foot-6, 240 pounds but lost close to 30 pounds, dropping him down to his lowest weight since high school.
“I felt like my high school strength, too,” Holderman said. “I had to adapt. In ’23, I just tried throwing it as hard as I could down people’s throat and I was throwing 98-101 (mph). That wasn’t the case last year. I was at 97-98, which was still good velo but I had to learn to pitch a little bit. That definitely helped me out going forward in my career, learning how to mix and read swings and pitch without my best stuff.”
Holderman started the season on the 15-day injured list, followed by a rehabilitation assignment at Triple-A Indianapolis. After being activated on April 11, he inherited a runner in the seventh inning from Jared Jones and gave up a two-run homer to Bryson Stott in a 5-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. After that, Holderman went 17 games without allowing an earned run, a span that lasted from April 3-May 29.
Aside from his struggles over the late five-game stretch, Holderman had an otherwise outstanding season. He posted a 1.72 ERA in his other 50 appearances for the Pirates, even though his role changed with Aroldis Chapman replacing him as the setup man to closer David Bednar.
“I had a lot of roles last year,” Holderman said. “I wasn’t just throwing the seventh and eighth. I was the ‘oh crap’ guy, too, so I wasn’t always available for the eighth. I want the ball when it means the most. I trust myself ultimately. That’s what I was telling the front office and the coaching staff this offseason: I want the ball when it matters. That’s all that matters to me. I want to win and I want it more than most. That’s what I believe. Just give me the ball, I’m going to get to Bednar and we’re going to get it over with and it’s going to be a fun day.”
Holderman also encountered problems against left-handed hitters, who slashed .247/.392/.416 against him. Where he owned a 3.44 strikeout-to-walk ratio against righties, Holderman had 25 strikeouts against 16 walks when facing lefties. So he added a four-seam fastball and a splitter this offseason to complement his sinker and sweeper in an attempt to prevent hitters from sitting in one quadrant of the strike zone.
“I needed a little something for lefties. It was harder just throwing cutters and sweepers to them,” Holderman said. “You can’t just sit east and west. You have to sit north-south, too, and I think that’s almost impossible to do, is to sit both. If I can just keep it random and keep hitters guessing, I think it’ll be a fun year.”
Holderman is motivated to reclaim his role as the setup man, though he calls Chapman “an amazing teammate.” Holderman learned from the seven-time All-Star how to handle the ups and downs of a high-leverage relief role, putting poor performances behind him and focusing on the next outing. Now, Holderman wants to reclaim the setup role.
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“With the absence of him, I have to step up and do more. I’ll probably be locked in that eighth inning,” Holderman said. “It feels good to be back. We definitely have a redemption year. We had an all right year. We wanted it to be better. We were ranked the third-best bullpen coming into the season last year, and that’s not what we played out to be. I think this year is going to be pretty cool. We’re going to prove why we’re one of the best bullpens in the league.”
Notes: The Pirates are off Thursday. Mitch Keller is scheduled to start against the Boston Red Sox at 6:05 p.m. Friday in Fort Myers. The game will be televised on Pittsburgh SportsNet .