The Pittsburgh Pirates have acquired minor league right-hander John Holdzkom, who has been assigned to the Altoona Curve, per an Altoona press release. I was trying to find information on Holdzkom and how he came into the organization, and found this article from the Amarillo Globe-News saying he was sold to the Pirates over the weekend. Holdzkom had a 1.17 ERA with seven strikeouts in 7.2 innings.
He’s 6′ 7″, 225 pounds, and is 26 years old. Holdzkom has played in the Independent leagues the last two years, and was previously in High-A with Cincinnati in 2012. He has never pitched higher than that level, so this will be his first jump to Double-A. He has hit 101 MPH in the past, but has also had some injuries and control problems in his career. He will likely serve as bullpen depth for the Curve.
Altoona also announced a few other transactions:
**Keon Broxton and Andy Vasquez were reinstated from the suspended list.
**Jhonathan Ramos was promoted to Indianapolis.
**Junior Sosa was placed on the Altoona DL with a left hamstring strain, retro 6/24.
UPDATE 1:48 PM: Indianapolis has announced that right-handed pitcher A.J. Morris has been placed on the disabled list. The move has been back dated to June 24th. No word on the injury.
UPDATE 2:55 PM: Ryan Palencer says that it’s a right forearm strain for Morris.