Major League Baseball

'New Zealander' John Holdzkom took unique path to majors

Published Mar. 15, 2015 11:50 p.m. ET

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BRADENTON, Fla. — John Holdzkom’s presence in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ spring clubhouse — all 6 feet, 7 inches of him — should be an inspiration to two groups not normally associated with each other: New Zealanders and relief pitchers released from the independent leagues.

Holdzkom, 27, was born and raised in California, but his father, Kit, is a New Zealand native. That explains why Holdzkom pitched for the Kiwis during a qualifying tournament for the 2013 World Baseball Classic. He’s the only player from that team to reach the big leagues. According to Baseball-Reference.com, no New Zealand native has played in the majors. Thus the Kiwi ambassador to Major League Baseball is a graduate of Rancho Cucamonga (Calif.) High School who has visited New Zealand exactly once.

“Obviously, I’m American,” Holdzkom told me Sunday morning. “But if you look back at the U.S. soccer team back in the 1920s, it was all people from Europe who had (immigrated here). That’s what New Zealand has to do with baseball right now, until they get it going.

“I’m happy to help build the sport. I’m not going to pretend to be Mr. Kiwi, but at the same time I want to help the sport there if I can.”

Auckland to Pittsburgh is an up-and-down flight when compared to Holdzkom’s peripatetic journey to the majors.

A fourth-round pick of the New York Mets in 2006, Holdzkom never had pitched above Class A when the Cincinnati Reds released him in 2012. Then he yo-yoed between the Australian Baseball League and indy teams in the U.S. At this time last year, Holdzkom was property of the American Association’s Sioux City Explorers . . . who traded him to the Sioux Falls Canaries (for a player to be named, of course) on April 2.

Then, on May 13, the Canaries released him. So, Holdzkom had been cast aside by a second independent team in a little more than one month. A player could reasonably interpret those events as a nudge from the baseball gods into another line of work. Holdzkom did not.

He latched on with the San Angelo Colts of the United League — yes, an entirely different independent league. After one scoreless inning, the Colts traded him back to the American Association — this time, to the Amarillo Sox. It was there that Pirates scout Mal Fichman discovered him. Holdzkom signed a minor-league contract and reported to Double-A Altoona.

A little more than two months later, he was throwing 97-mph cut fastballs during an often-dominant nine-game stint in the major leagues.

Explanation, please?

“I wish I could say there was something tangible, where I could be like, ‘Oh, that’s it,’ ” he said. “I don’t know. Maybe if you get punched in the gut enough, sometimes you just rise to the occasion.

“That release from Sioux Falls stung pretty good . . . (but he clicked) in the very first outing of the season with San Angelo. I went out there and didn’t have too much anxiety about pitching. I was calm. I just hit the strike zone, and (the confidence) built over time. When the Pirates signed me, I was in Double-A for a hot minute. Then they promoted me so quickly to Triple-A that it gave me a lot of confidence, like, ‘Oh, they like me. I guess I am good.’ ”

Aside from the Pirates, New Zealand’s baseball federation could become one of the largest beneficiaries of Holdzkom’s ascent. Under the direction of CEO Ryan Flynn, Baseball New Zealand issued a news release last week, seeking to build a database of players — even those with only high school experience — who could be eligible to join the national team because of family links to New Zealand.

Flynn’s announcement said he’s developing the roster for a 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifying tournament within the next 11 months — which suggests the round will be held in February 2016, likely in Australia. That timing could be linked to an initiative with closer ties to MLB: its ongoing interest in London.

Sources say MLB officials have discussed the possibility of playing regular-season games in London, perhaps as early as the days following the 2016 All-Star Game. And a London series would be most impactful if it follows a WBC qualifying tournament involving four Commonwealth countries: Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand and South Africa.

It’s not rugby, of course, but there’s acertain wisdom in leveraging old rivalries to drive interest in something new.

“That would be awesome, if you got those four countries going that all have a rivalry in the sporting world,” Holdzkom said. “It’s (usually) cricket or rugby. But if you threw baseball in there, you would generate a lot of buzz, especially if you put it in the right town. I think Perth would be the best because that’s the baseball capital of Australia.”

For now, Holdzkom said baseball remains a “niche sport” in New Zealand. An example: Beau Bishop, the New Zealand-born catcher signed recently by the Milwaukee Brewers, grew up playing fast-pitch softball before converting to baseball.

“The goal right now is just to have it on par with Australia,” Holdzkom said. (Eleven Australian-born players have appeared in the majors during the current decade.) “In that part of the world, baseball is so foreign. But in Australia right now, if you want to play baseball, it’s there. There are fields. (In New Zealand,) I want to get to that level where, if you want to play baseball, there’s a place to play baseball.

“Right now, I think there are two fields in the whole country that are baseball-specific. A lot of guys will go play on a rugby field and throw down bags (for the bases). The goal is for everyone to know baseball is a sport that can be played — that it’s an option, an opportunity.”

So . . . New Zealand, baseball powerhouse? That’s a little farfetched -- sort of like a twice-discarded indy ball pitcher finding a final chance in the United League, then pitching in a postseason game on national television a few months later.

“That league doesn’t even exist this year,” Holdzkom said, reflecting on the one-game stint in San Angelo that saved his career. “It went bankrupt.”

He paused, raising his eyebrows.

“I’m glad they still existed last year.”

More information on New Zealand’s baseball program can be found at BaseballNewZealand.com.