Pittsburgh Pirates Where Are They Now: Reliever John Holdzkom

In 2014, a palmballer for the Pittsburgh Pirates made his MLB debut did very well in his brief call up. But what happened after that?

In 2014, the Pittsburgh Pirates had an interesting and unique right-handed relief pitcher. Standing at 6-foot-9 with a palm ball as a part of his arsenal, John Holdzkom appeared in a brief stint in the Majors in 2014 and showed some pretty good stuff in his debut innings. But whatever happened to him afterwards?

Holdzkom was originally drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 15th round of the 2005 draft, but did not sign with the team. In the following draft, the New York Mets drafted the tall right hander in the 4th round. Holdzkom started out his career as a swing-man pitcher, starting games, but also coming out of the bullpen fairly often. His biggest issue was control, walking over 5 batters per 9 most of the time. After reaching A-Ball in 2008, John was forced to undergo Tommy John Surgery at the end of the season. He missed all of 2009, but returned in 2010.

Regardless, Holdzkom barely even made it past rookie ball with the Mets. He was released at the end of Spring Training 2011.

Holdzkom wasn’t able to latch on with a team in 2011, and didn’t play pro ball for the entire season. He then signed a minor league contract with the Reds for 2012. He was able to reach High-A ball with the Reds, but pitched in just 8.2 innings and issued 13 walks. By June 21st, Holdzkom was released once again.

Now 24-years-old, Holdzkom took his talents to Australia, where he struggled, mainly with control. He walked 43 batters in just 48 innings of work. After starting off 2013 with 11 walks in 6.2 innings, he was released, and headed back to the United States.

Now with the American Association’s Amarillo Sox, Holdzkom finally produced something worthwhile. Despite still walking 31 batters in 36 innings, he had a 3.50 ERA. He was traded to the Sioux City Explorers later in the season, where he saw his walk rate drop to 5.9, and he struck out 15 batters in 5.2 innings, and gave up no runs.

In 2014, Holdzkom was 26-years-old. He got off to an amazing start to the year, and finally got his control down. In 8.2 innings, John compiled a 2.1 BB/9, while he still carried a strong 9.3 K/9 rate. He gave up just 1 earned run, which got the attention of the Bucs. On June 24th, 2014, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed the journeyman to a minor league contract, and he made good on it.

Between Double-A and Triple-A for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Holdzkom, after barely even making it past rookie ball, traveling overseas to play ball, and returning to the independent leagues in the US, struck out 37 batters in 27.2 innings, gave up only 15 hits, 1 home run, and 6 earned runs. He did see a bit of an uptick in walk rate, but it was still at a manageable 3.9 per/9 rate. By now, the palm-baller was on the Pirates radar, and he was called to the majors as part of September expanding rosters.

Holdzkom was outstanding in his 9 inning September sample size. He only gave up 2 earned runs and walked just a pair of batters. He also struck out 14 out of the 32 batters he faced. He induced ground balls at a 56.3% rate, which was extremely impressive.

To go with the unconventional palmball pitch, Holdzkom had an outstanding fastball. In 2014, it averaged 96.5 MPH, which isn’t something you see every day. He pitched so well, he made the team’s 2014 Wild Card roster. He only pitched one inning and gave up 1 earned run on two hits, but I doubt Holdzkom would have ever thought he would be pitching in any postseason game at the start of the year.

Following the 2014 season, the now 26-year-old seemed like someone with a strong chance to make the bullpen. Although after a so-so 2015 Spring Training, he was sent to Triple-A. But still, he seemed like he would be the first one to be called to the majors had any injuries set in. He was even on MLB Pipeline’s Pirates top 30 prospects list. However, Holdzkom struggled with injuries.

He missed an entire month between May and June, and then pretty much missed time from the beginning of July to the end of the year. He also saw his walks go up as he walked 17.2% of all the batters he faced. He still carried a strong 3.22, 3.12 FIP, and gave up no home runs. Had he been healthy, he probably would have gotten plenty of innings at the majors. Holdzkom still was considered a potential bullpen option as he ended 2014 as the Pirates 22nd best prospect according to MLB Pipeline.

2016 got off to an awful start. He gave up 3 earned runs in 4.2 Spring Training innings. Plus his fastball, which usually sat in the 96 range and topped out at 97, was barely touching 90. This was the beginning of the end for what looked to be the start of something promising. Holdzkom was designated for assignment in early April, and was soon released by the club. His trip through free agency was short, as he was quickly signed by the Chicago White Sox, but barely played. He pitched just two-thirds of an inning for the White Sox Rookie Ball affiliate. After the season Holdzkom went back into free agency. He spent part of his 2016 season helping expand the game in New Zealand, so when he wasn’t able to pitch, he was doing something positive for the game in some form.

Now going into his age 29 season, Holdzkom didn’t appear with a professional ball club for all of 2017. In an interview at the end of 2018, Holdzkom said his shoulder was pretty much “minced meat” at one point, so giving it a year off was understandable. But in 2018, he gave it one more shot to make it back to the bigs. He headed back to Australia, and pitched 5.1 innings. He may have given up 3 earned runs but he struck out 6 batters, and impressively didn’t walk a single batter either.

So that leads up to now. Holdzkom didn’t pitch in the 2019 season. But despite not pitching in an MLB game since 2014, and not appearing in more than a dozen professional baseball games since 2015, he hasn’t officially called it quits yet. He’s still just 32 years old, and it’s not every day you run into a palm ball pitcher, and one who can crank it up into the high-90’s. What the next step in John Holdzkom’s career is will remain to be seen. He now has a family, so maybe he retires to be with his wife and kids. Maybe he’ll attempt another comeback. Only time will tell what will happen next. After all, coming back from nothing isn’t something Holdzkom is unfamiliar with.