Pittsburgh Pirates Recall Colin Holderman, Activate Chase De Jong

Tuesday afternoon the Pittsburgh Pirates recalled Colin Holderman from Triple-A Indianapolis and activated Chase De Jong off the injured list

Prior to the start of Tuesday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers the Pittsburgh Pirates had roster moves to make. This included promoting Colin Holderman, to replace the recently traded Chris Stratton in the bullpen.

Holderman was acquired from the New York Mets in last month’s Daniel Vogelbach trade. Prior to being traded Holderman was emerging as a key high-leverage arm out of Buck Showalter’s bullpen.

With the Mets, Holderman pitched 17.2 innings in 15 relief appearances. The 26-year-old righty owned a 2.04 ERA, 2.27 FIP, 10.4% walk rate and a 26.9% strikeout rate. He did not allow a home run in his 17.2 innings of work.

Before he joined the Met bullpen Holderman posted a 2.51 ERA and a  3.75 FIP in 14.1 innings pitched for Triple-A Syracuse. He walked 5.4% of batters faced, struck out 30.4% and allowed two home runs. In three outings at Triple-A Indianapolis, Holderman allowed a run on two hits, two walks and four strikeouts in 3.0 innings pitched.

It remains to be seen what kind of role Holderman will play for the Pirates out of the bullpen. That said, it would seem likely that Derek Shelton will use him in high-leverage situations. He was being used as such by the Mets and the Pirate bullpen is, well, not as good as the Mets. The rest of the season should be a good showcase for Holderman as he looks to lockdown a long-term role as a high leverage arm out of the Pirate bullpen.

To fill the other open spot on the active roster the Pirates re-instated Chase De Jong off the injured list. De Jong has pitched 35 innings in 21 relief appearances for the Pirates this season. He owns a 2.06 ERA, 4.86 FIP, 8.6% walk rate and a 20.1% strikeout rate.

The Pirates also announced that they have added Johan Oviedo and Malcolm Nunez, the two players added in the José Quintana/Chris Stratton trade, to the 40-man roster. Oviedo has been optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis while Nuñez has been optioned to Double-A Altoona.