Non-Roster Invitees essentially come from three categories:
- Prospects not on the 40-man yet
- Veterans trying to make it with a new club
- Players in the organization for a while, and it’s time for them to take the next step
Today’s NRI comes from that last group. Colin Holderman was drafted by the Mets in the 9th round during the 2016 MLB draft. The right handed pitcher from Southern Illinois made his professional debut that same year in Kingsport, where he was about a year younger than the average player (20-years old vs the average age of 20.9 years). He posted a 3.86 ERA over 13 games and 18.2 innings.
Holderman, at least statistically, took a step forward last season, posting a 3.38 ERA and 1.000 WHIP between 24.0 innings in Binghamton and St. Lucie. For comparison, his career marks are a 3.95 ERA and 1.253 WHIP. The Mets then sent him to the Arizona Fall League where he did not have the best time, allowing 10 runs from 10 hits in 10.1 innings of work. That being said, take a look at this tweet:
In 8 Statcast-tracked Arizona Fall League games, #Mets RHP Colin Holderman induced swings on 21 offspeed pitches and got whiffs on 17.
— Jacob Resnick (@Jacob_Resnick) November 20, 2021
81 percent!
Holderman also averaged 97 mph with his fastball and touched 99. Eligible to be taken in the Rule 5 Draft after going unprotected. pic.twitter.com/D2eEA3YW8x
Ultimately, the Mets learned a lesson last year about pitching and health. At times last year the Mets needed to go deep in their depth chart. With the way the roster is constructed right now, especially with how heavy the bullpen is with righty pitchers, If Holderman sees substantial time in the majors this year, one of two things happened. Holderman had a fantastic spring/time in the minors and really took a step forward (remember last year he posted a WHIP 0.253 points below his career numbers) or something went terribly wrong with the Mets.
This doesn’t fit anywhere else but I also wanted to mention that Colin Holderman is a huge fan of Coach Beard from Ted Lasso, at least from what I can tell scanning his Twitter. Obviously, Holderman has extremely good taste in television and that should boost him up the Mets depth chart alone.
