Rested Hollands finds home with Phils

CLEARWATER, Fla. — If you didn’t know what Mario Hollands did for a living, you would think he spent 2012 as a fugitive judging from his living situation that year.

“I slept on a lot of couches and blow-up beds,” the tall left-handed pitching prospect for the Phillies said Tuesday. “I was living in (Lou) Collier’s house in the apartment complex behind Chipotle (in Clearwater) with a couple other guys. They had a spare air bed mattress. I can’t remember whose place I stayed at in Reading.

“When I was in Lehigh (Valley) they put me in a hotel, so I lucked out. I was there for a couple weeks and it was near the end of the season, so they knew it was going to be hard to find a spot.”

Hollands had five stops at four minor-league levels that year, none of which lasted more than six weeks. He pitched as a starter and in relief. By the time Ryne Sandberg — at the time the manager at Lehigh Valley — saw Hollands arrive at the end of the season to make three starts for the Iron Pigs, the 23-year-old was showing the fatigue being a baseball gypsy can build. Hollands has made a big impression for a non-roster invitee who wasn’t protected from the Rule 5 draft this winter. Throwing his fastballs in the 92-94 mph range with late movement and using a funky delivery that creates good deception, the 2010 10th round selection out of Cal-Santa Barbara is emerging as the best left-handed option in the organization if either Antonio Bastardo or Jake Diekman is derailed for any reason.