The Oakland Athletics acquired RHP Grant Holmes from the Los Angeles Dodgers in a deadline deal. What kind of pitcher did they get?
Who Is He?
Holmes was drafted with the 22nd pick of the 2014 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers out of high school in South Carolina. The Dodgers sent him to their Arizona Rookie League team, and he pitched very well over 7 appearances, 6 starts, there, so they moved him up to their short-season Pioneer League team in Ogden to finish out the year, where he did shuffle a little, but overall showed a ton of promise. On the season in total, his line was 11 games, 10 starts, with a 3.73 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and 13/58 BB/K over 48 1/3 innings. He was noticed by all the major ranking services, as Baseball America had him rated as the #74 prospect in baseball by Baseball America, #95 by MLB.com, and #79 by Baseball Prospectus.
He pitched in the Low-A Midwest League in 2015 with Great Lakes. Holmes made 24 starts, throwing 103 1/3 innings, tallying a 3.14 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, and a 54/117 BB/K ratio. His walks were a bit up, but he was still able to get notice enough to get ranked #72 by Baseball America, #62 by MLB.com, and #40 by Baseball Prospectus.
The Dodgers continued to move Holmes slowly this season, bumping him up to the high-A Cal League, a notorious hitter’s league. Holmes has seen the struggles of the rough environment for pitchers as he’s stayed in the Cal League with Oakland after the trade, and combined so far, he’s at 23 appearances, 21 of them starts, throwing 119 1/3 innings with a 4.75 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, and 46/109 BB/K ratio. Baseball America moved him up to #60, but MLB.com bumped him down to #78, and Baseball Prospectus bumped him down enough that he didn’t make their midseason top 50.
Next: Holmes's scouting report