Holland has boxer’s mentality
Before every start, Derek Holland watches a boxing video.
Well, it’s half boxing — a highlight that starts with boxer Tyson Fury knocking out people, then it switches to video of Holland striking out people. It alternates between them throughout.
Holland says he got it while with the Chicago Cubs last season, and it is intended to get Holland fired up and in the right mindset. A boxing fan, Holland views his starts like prize fights. Each inning is a round. If he gets roughed up, that’s fine. The focus shifts to winning the next round.
“That’s what’s huge for me. Having a boxer’s mentality is, ‘OK, I got beat in one round but I can still take this fool down,’” Holland said Friday. “That’s the kind of mentality you should have, the fight.”
So far, through two starts in the 2020 season, it has worked for Holland. He has thrown 5⅔ innings in consecutive outings against the Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins, allowing six runs total. Even that is a bit misleading, as his start against the Twins started with 5⅔ shutout innings before Minnesota strung together some two-out hits to score four runs in the inning, all of them charged to Holland.
The value of Holland for the Pirates, though, is hard to pin down. He is on a one-year deal. If he continues to pitch well and the Pirates turn around their luck, his contributions to the rotation make it a deeper unit. As of right now, though, with the Pirates 3-10 through 13 games, that doesn’t seem likely.
If the Pirates do continue to struggle this season, perhaps Holland’s future will involve a deal at this season’s trade deadline. He is, after all, an experienced pitcher on an expiring contract. Any hesitations before this season would have been because he struggled last year. If he can show that he has put those struggles behind him, perhaps he could fetch a good return in a trade.
That will materialize in time. For now, Holland is focused on the present, which also includes helping out his fellow starting pitchers. That, too, gives him value to the Pirates. He has tried to bring Joe Musgrove, a fan of mixed martial arts, on board with his boxing mentality.
Trevor Williams was complimentary of Holland before his start against the Twins earlier this week, saying he wanted to emulate the way Holland had attacked the zone in his previous start. Williams pitched seven innings, allowing one run Wednesday.
“I make myself available to these guys, too, but the thing is you’ve got to come to me,” Holland said. “I’m not going to go to you. Now if I see something, I’m going to say something and whatnot, but the main thing is you’ve got to come to me. If you want advice, you’ve got to come and ask me questions. It’s your career at the end of the day. It’s not mine.”
Kela progressing
The Pirates still are waiting to say for sure when closer Keone Kela will return to the team. The right-hander has returned to PNC Park after testing positive for COVID-19 at the beginning of summer camp and has thrown off the mound in the past week. On Saturday, he will take another important step toward returning, as he will face live hitters for the first time in batting practice.
Manager Derek Shelton wouldn’t commit to how many live batting practices Kela might need.
Another COVID-19 scare
Just as Major League Baseball was set to be back completely, with all 30 teams playing games, the St. Louis Cardinals have suffered a setback, registering a positive test Friday. That resulted in the postponement of their game against the Chicago Cubs.
The Cardinals could cause the first postponements for the Pirates, depending on the severity of the situation. The two teams are to meet in St Louis Monday for the start of a three-game series.
“Obviously COVID is a big part of this year and something we’ve had to deal with,” Shelton said. “I think we’ll get clarification on where we’re going with [MLB]. I know they postponed the Cardinals-Cubs game today. As they go forward, we’ll figure out what it is. It’s one of those things like we talked about at the beginning. It’s a game of adjustments, and once we get more information, we’ll go with it. But once again, our group has been very proactive. They’ve been very good with the protocols, and I expect us to continue on with that.”