30.5 F
Pittsburgh

John Holdzkom Quickly Earns Clint Hurdle’s Trust in the Late Innings

Published:

It’s no coincidence that Clint Hurdle has put tremendous faith in John Holdzkom after only pitching 27.2 innings in the Pirates’ minor leagues.

Hurdle trusts the reports he gets from the Indianapolis Indians’ manager, Dean Treanor, and pitching coach, Tom Filer, and their word was enough for Hurdle to throw Holdzkom quickly into the mix.

“Going in, I was looking for things from Holdzkom based on the reports I’ve gotten from Dean and from Tom,” Hurdle said. “I wanted to see him off the mound once to get him some footing maybe, and then push him, see where he can go.”

And push him he has. The 6′ 9″ reliever has pitched four, one inning outings since his call-up. Holdzkom has pitched the 7th inning, 8th inning, 9th inning, and the 11th inning, earning the save. He’s responded well, surrendering zero runs, giving up a sole hit, and striking out seven.

“His confidence level is good. There is something in every player that once you get up here and you can do something well, even if it’s just once, it’s like ‘ok’,” Hurdle said.

Holdzkom has rode his 95 MPH fastball, which he’s throw 88.9% of the time, and his 85 MPH palmball changeup, which he’s thrown 11.1%, to have success. He’s used his eyes well, too.

“He’s ingratiated into the bullpen well,” Hurdle said. “He’s used his eyes well, watching Watson get ready, watch Wilson, watching Hughes, watching Melancon, the backend guys prepare.”

Holdzkom being able to step into the backend of the bullpen immediately and succeed has been instrumental in the Pirates’ bullpen regaining their top form recently. Over the last seven games, Pirates relievers have combined to allow two earned runs in 21.1 innings of work. Hurdle has struggled to find another backend reliever to supplement Mark Melancon and Tony Watson, and it looks like he might have found his guy in Holdzkom.

“This time of year, you’d like to have five [good relievers]. We’ve had four. I believe we’ve got five. We might even have six. The more you’ve got out there the better you are,” Hurdle said.

Related Articles

Latest Articles