Derek Holland

Going by pVal, Holland had the best curveball of his career, with a 3.2 pVal that was his highest since a 1.3 pVal in his 2009 rookie year. Holland only threw it 6.7% of the time, with the pitch sitting around 78 mph. Only getting 0.8 inches of break, Holland’s hook moves 91% less than the average fastball and had a 0.0% K-rate. Yes, 0.0%.

Holland’s changeup averages 83.9 mph and was only used by the left-hander 3.7% of the time in 2019, allowing a .400 batting-average against, with a .548 wOBA. Even getting hammered like that, his -2.4 pVAl on the pitch, was his lowest since 2016.

Holland’s fastball averaged 92.3 mph last season, up from 91.5 mph the year before and finishing with a .260 batting-average against. Barreled at an 11.1% rate, Holland’s heater gets average break and below-average drop and finished with a 22.3% K-rate.

Thrown 27% of the time in 2019, Holland’s slider averages 81.3 mph and much like his curveball, gets some of the least break in baseball, averaging just 0.6 inches. It still managed a 19.7% SwStr% and finished with a 27.2% K-rate.

Holland is extremely sinker-heavy, relying on it nearly 60% of the time, and he gets more than 50% ground balls on the pitch. It’s not a strikeout pitch, but he throws it in the zone more often and got average results, with a .246 batting average against, though he did limit extra-base hits with it, which led to a solid .110 ISO on the pitch.

Holland’s slider is as close as he gets to a Money Pitch, missing the zone and chase rates by just a few percent. He’s lost a few ticks off the strikeout rate on the pitch, but it’s still pulling down a 32.8% strikeout rate and rarely walking batters. It still has the potential to be a good pitch, but the .246 batting average against needs to come down first.

Holland’s curve is a fairly straightforward pitch without a ton of drop, very close in movement to his slider. He’s not getting a ton of swing and miss on the pitch, but he limits extra-base hits. Batters only managed a .235 wOBA on the pitch.

Holland had a lot of trouble keeping the changeup in the zone, walking 14.3% while only striking out 10.2% of batters. Batters managed a .343 wOBA on the pitch with an even worse xWOBA of .356. It’s a fairly marginalized pitch with little value in his arsenal.