It’s rare to have a lockdown anchor at the backend of a bullpen, but when the man who shuts the door on the opposition is as great as Greg Holland has been for the Rockies, it’s an easy feeling handing him the baseball to bring home the win.
After sitting out the 2016 season, Holland is taking down the opposition with force and finesse, re-introducing himself to batters, one swing-and-a-miss at a time.
“He went right out of the shoot with a strike and kept going” said manager Bud Black after the Rockies 5-2 win over the Diamondbacks Sunday. “He’s a pro, that’s the thing about Greg that’s comforting for us.”
There was certainly concern regarding Holland’s Tommy John surgery in 2016, but Holland’s fastball is back with command, his slider has returned with nasty bite and he’s striking hitters out. Holland’s nine-pitch save effort on Sunday against Arizona, which included two strikeouts, sealed the Rockies third-straight series win. All nine pitches he threw were strikes, even after a rain delay that shelved the two teams for over an hour.
“He knows what he’s doing” Black said of his closer. “He knows how to pitch the ninth inning, regardless of situation, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the conditions, he knows how to pitch the ninth inning.”
The Rockies desperately sought improvement at the closer position; and Holland has given it to them. Their 12-20 record in one-run games last season certainly put emphasis on finding a dynamic and dominant closer in the offseason. The Rockies only saved 37 games last year, that was good enough for bottom-third in the league. They also had 28 blown saves.
Holland’s 13 saves lead the majors and he has yet to blow a save. He attacks hitters. He intimidates them. He strikes them out. In 14 innings of work, Holland has struck out 17 batters, has only allowed two earned runs and sports a 1.29 ERA, which leads the team. Holland’s 13 saves are more than his former team, the Kansas City Royals, have wins (10).
The Rockies are nearly 20 percent through the 2017 campaign, and Greg Holland has returned to his former dominate form. It’s new territory for Rockies fans to watch a reliable back-end thrower, a fanbase who is all too familiar with a crumbling bullpen in the past. But this year is different. Led by a former pitcher as the trigger man in Bud Black, Holland is the best not-so-secret weapon Black has in his arsenal; and so far, he’s been deadly.