How 2026 is 'completely different' for Holderman

This story was excerpted from Tim Stebbins’ Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CLEVELAND -- Colin Holderman understood his task when Guardians manager Stephen Vogt called his number in the ninth inning on Wednesday against the Tigers. The game was tied, 2-2, and Detroit had runners on first and second with only one out.

Holderman struck out Matt Vierling and Wenceel Pérez swinging to send the game to the 10th inning. The Guardians prevailed with a 3-2 win.

“I'm trying to get in the zone first off and come with my nasty stuff,” Holderman said. “It was time for the punchout, so we had to get nasty, and it worked out.”

After a disappointing 2025 season with the Pirates, Holderman has brought his nasty stuff with him to Cleveland, which signed him to a one-year deal in December. The right-hander has emerged as a steady high-leverage reliever for Vogt, and he enters Tuesday with a 1.47 ERA, a 0.76 WHIP and 21 strikeouts with five walks in 18 1/3 innings over 14 appearances.

In 2025, Holderman logged a 7.01 ERA and a 1.95 WHIP in 25 2/3 innings over 24 appearances with the Pirates. What’s been the biggest difference?

“I think it's a combination of a few things. First off, I'm healthy,” Holderman said. “Mentally, I’m just a lot more confident. Going out there at 85 percent is pretty tough in the big leagues, and that kind of weighed on me pretty bad.”

Holderman spent about six weeks last season on the IL with a right thumb issue, which he said was De Quervain's syndrome. He described it as chronic inflammation in the canals by his thumb, which would lock up. It went up through his thumb and wrist and was connected to his neck, and all in all was obviously painful.

Holderman noted the thumb issue last season and previous right wrist issues he dealt with have all been connected. He spent two weeks on the injured list in 2023 with right wrist inflammation and another three weeks on it in ‘24 with a right wrist sprain.

“It wasn't fun, but I thought it was just a wrist and I could push through,” Holderman said. “That kind of snowballed into a few years thing that maybe could have been put to rest a little quicker.”

Holderman went through some trial and error trying to get over the hump, and he found things that helped little by little last year. He said the issue began to get better when he improved his end-range stability and the strength in his hand and wrist. He learned the issue stemmed from his neck and is nerve-related. The way he throws can tug on it if he doesn’t get loosened up properly from his neck down.

He’s in a much better place while on the mound now versus previous years.

“It's completely different,” Holderman said. “Going out there and not thinking about it is a great thing and just competing. There were some nights where I'm like, ‘OK, this is hurting pretty bad. I need to figure out some [pitch] usage changes. I need to throw a lot of sinkers.’

"It's nice going out there, just throwing whatever I want when I want it, and not having to worry about the repercussions.”

Holderman had a good run in Pittsburgh before his tough 2025 season. From ‘23-24, he had a 3.52 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP in 107 1/3 innings over 113 appearances. This year, we can see his physical improvement reflected in his pitch usage.

Holderman’s sinker is his bread and butter, but his sweeper is a key complementary offering. He can attack righties down and inside with the former and down and away with the latter. He noted the thumb issue “really messed up” his ability to throw the sweeper because he could not move his wrist the way he needed to, even as he tried different grips.

Consider Holderman's sweeper results the past three seasons:

2024: 47.5 percent usage (most-used pitch), .165 AVG, 39.8 percent whiff rate
2025: 27.0 percent usage (second most), .424 AVG, 30.6 percent whiff rate
2026: 37.4 percent usage (second most), .071 AVG, 41.7 percent whiff rate

Holderman credited the Guardians’ pitching group for dialing in his mechanics this spring to help him repeat his delivery consistently. It's still rather early, but so far, this is proving to be a great fit.

“I wasn't able to perform like I should [last year],” Holderman said. "Had a good offseason, signed to a great org. I’m having a great time here, and it's got the confidence rolling. Now I'm healthy with good stuff, and it's a good combination.”