Counting Down the 100 Greatest Colorado Rockies: 98. Darren Holmes
Opening Day is April 3 against the Brewers and it can’t come soon enough. To help cope with the pain of a baseball free life, Rox Pile will be counting down the 100 greatest Colorado Rockies in franchise history.
This list isn’t completely arbitrary but it does not rely strictly on numbers. Other factors will include major contributions, team culture, fan appreciation and overall importance to the club. This order is in no way definitive. It is meant to spark conversation. Let us know your thoughts at @RoxpileFS on Twitter. Let the countdown begin! Let baseball start soon.
98. Darren Holmes
In 1995 the Colorado Rockies had no business being in the playoffs. Well if their pitching had anything to say about it. The Rox lead the NL in hits, runs scored, triples, home runs, RBIs, batting average and slugging percentage. To balance all of those numbers out the team also gave up the most hits, runs and earned runs.
Somehow they still managed to only miss the division title by a game in a strike-shortened season and were the first representative of the NL Wild Card. You probably knew most of that. A bright spot in that Rockies pitching staff though was Darren Holmes. He ranks among the Rockies in all time leaders in appearances (263, 11th), saves (46, 6th) and innings pitched as a reliever (296.1, 6th).
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Holmes had a career renaissance after he started poorly the first two years after he got picked up by the Rockies from the Brewers in the 1992 Expansion Draft. He had the most saves on the team and along with Curtis Leskanic and Steve Reed rounded out a very formidable bullpen. Something the Rockies desperately need today. He had a 3.24 ERA that ’95 season and led the team in saves with 14. Colorado’s first playoff win belongs to Holmes coming in the third game of the NLDS against the eventual World Series champion Atlanta Braves. The game was close ending 7-5 in the tenth inning at home.
In 1996 he posted a 5-4 record with a 3.97 ERA and 9-2 record with a 5.34 ERA in 1997. Holmes took advantage of his record in his free-angency year and it paid off. He went to the New York Yankees the next year and made the postseason roster where he won a ring in 1998.
Darren Holmes should be remembered as one of the greatest relievers the Rockies ever had. That is one of the reasons he was rewarded with the bullpen coach job in 2014. Before that he was a biomechanics specialist with the Atlanta Braves and started an athlete training business with former teammate Jon Smoltz. He took over for a team that was in the bottom two in the majors in 2014. They moved up to fourth to last in 2016 but was deemed another abysmal season.
If this team is going to compete for a playoff spot in 2017, in which the team believes they can, the bullpen has to start pitching the way Holmes and company did in the 90s. The 2017 Rockies have a much better starting rotation than the 1995 team did. Holmes was kept on the staff after new manager Bud Black was hired. Holmes said his former teammate and manager Walt Weiss is one of his best friends. It should be formidable for Holmes to team up with a renowned pitching coach in Black though. Holmes strategy to make Coors Field home field advantage for these relievers hasn’t worked so far.
If he can get this bullpen turned around and playing the way his 1995 reliever core did, it will be his greatest accomplishment as a Rockie. For now, his accomplishments pitching well in the first year of Coors Field and the first Rockies playoff team should warrant memories from Rockies fans for a long time to come.
