No plans for Yanks to promote reliever

JONATHAN Holder, a 2014 Yankees sixth-round pick, was having a nice season, climbing from Single-A to Double-A to Triple-A. But then the righty reliever did something Sunday that really gets a farmhand noticed. In a game that would clinch a playoff berth for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Holder entered in the sixth inning to protect a 3-1 lead and struck out the next 11 batters he faced, gave up a bloop single to former Yankees catcher John Ryan Murphy, then registered another strikeout to complete the game. Thirteen batters faced, 12 strikeouts.

The Yankees, as they did last year, are again struggling with the quality of their relief that bridges from the starters to their most trustworthy endgame pieces. But because the Yankees anticipate a 40-man roster crunch this offseason, they are not planning to bring up Holder or other strong prospects they do not have to protect on the 40man this offseason, such as Clint Frazier (the big piece they got back from the Indians for Andrew Miller) or Chance Adams (who probably has risen to become the Yankees’ top pitching prospect).

Instead, the Yanks are likely to add pitchers such as Bryan Mitchell and James Pazos to try to deepen their relief corps.

Still, Holder has emerged on the Yankees’ radar. They had him starting last year to build up his innings and repertoire, and returned him to the pen this season, where his fastball has ticked up as high as 96 mph to go along with a strong breaking ball. He has averaged 13.9 whiffs per nine innings this season (best in the minors for anyone with at least 60 innings). Opposing scouts, though, wonder whether his ability to get bad swings and misses up in the zone will diminish in the majors. Video of his performance from Sunday shows that is where he dominated Rochester.

Keep in mind: Holder’s Mississippi State teammate and fellow 2014 draft pick, Jacob Lindgren, dominated in the minors, but struggled in a major league cameo in 2015 before needing Tommy John surgery this year.