Colin Holderman has been one of the Cleveland Guardians' best relievers over the last few weeks.
Colin Holderman’s first week of the 2026 season couldn’t have gone worse. In his first two outings of the year, the reliever gave up a total of three earned runs in 3.0 innings of work, issued two walks, and allowed two hits.
It definitely was not the impression that he was hoping to make on his new team. The Cleveland Guardians even optioned Holderman to Triple-A during the team’s first road trip, and behind, they returned to Progressive Field for the team’s Home Opener.
The good news is that a reliever as good as his last outing, and Holderman is in the midst of turning his season around after a rough start.
Cleveland called up the 30-year-old back up to the big-league level on April 26 as the team looked for some fresh arms to add to the bullpen. Since then, he’s been one of the better arms Cleveland has been able to rely on in some tough spots.
In Holderman’s second stint with the big-league team this season, he’s appeared in four games, pitched 7.0 innings, and has yet to give up an earned run in those appearances.
Mar 29, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Colin Holderman (35) pitches to the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn ImagesHolderman has also done a tremendous job of simply not allowing base runners during this stretch. He hasn’t issued a single walk and owns a 0.57 WHIP over the last four outings. Holderman may only have a strikeout rate of 20 percent since being recalled, but he’s generating a fair amount of ground balls and letting his defense do the work.
After this efficient run, Holderman pumped his season ERA down to 1.80 and WHIP to 0.80.
The big question in all of this is: Are Hodlerman’s numbers sustainable moving forward?
While the reliever is inevitably going to give up some more runs, there’s some reason to believe that the pitcher Holderma has now is more representative of the pitch, and that started with
This hot streak for Holderman started in the Minors, before the call-up, not allowing a single run in his four games (8.0 IP) before the recall.
Clearly, an adjustment was made that has helped Holderman turn his season around.
The Guardians should certainly be happy with what they’ve seen from Holderman over the last few weeks, and with how inconsistent the reliever core has been this year, they should hope it’s something that continues.
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