Contrary to earlier reports, a source with the Yankees revealed Friday morning that the team would be promoting Triple-A relief ace Jonathan Holder in September.
Many Yankees fans were disappointed by Joel Sherman of the New York Post’s report Tuesday that dominant Triple-A reliever Jonathan Holder would not be receiving a September promotion despite being one of the most exciting and successful arms in the team’s system this year.
The 23-year-old righty has struck out an Aroldis Chapman-esque 51.5% of the batters he’s faced since his promotion to Scranton Wilkes-Barre, with just two runs allowed in 20.1 innings of work.
Before that, Holder was equally dominant for Double-A Trenton, pitching to a 2.20 ERA and 1.85 FIP in 41 innings with the Thunder to open the year.
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He capped his season off with arguably the most incredible pitching performance in the minor leagues this year, striking out 11 straight batters and 12 of the 13 he faced, to protect a 3-1 lead for the Railriders in the game where they clinched a postseason berth. Talk about clutch.
The Yankees have been unable to develop any of their “Scranton Shuttle” arms into consistent middle-relief options this season. The team’s bullpen has been a major liability since dealing away Chapman and Andrew Miller at the trade deadline.
Not promoting Holder would have been a puzzling choice with the Yankees so close to securing a playoff berth. They need to be doing everything in their power to put their best players on the field, and right now Holder looks like one of them.
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However, Chad Jennings of the Lohud Yankees Blog confirmed via a source with the team that Holder indeed will be added to the big league roster for September. In fact, he may be getting the call as soon as Friday to provide a boost in this week’s series against the rival Orioles, whom New York is trying to catch for the second Wild Card spot.
Because of their off-day yesterday, the Yankees have yet to officially announce the first wave of promotions, but that news should come at some point before the first game of the Baltimore series begins at 7:05 pm ET.
Along with Ben Heller, Holder now gives New York two additional potential late-inning arms to help set up closer Dellin Betances down the stretch, easing the burden on veterans Tyler Clippard and Adam Warren.
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