A's Lose Promising Reliever to the Arizona Diamondbacks

Last week when the A's officially added Aaron Civale and Scott Barlow to the 40-man roster, they made the decision to designate Mitch Spence and Grant Holman for assignment. When it happened, Spence looked like a trade candidate, and he ended up being moved to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for right-hander A.J. Causey.

Holman, who has shown flashes of being a pretty solid reliever in the big leagues, has now been claimed by the Arizona Diamondbacks, the club announced on Sunday. This is a solid pickup for Arizona, as the 25-year-old right-hander still has two option years remaining, giving him time to continue to develop, if needed.

The righty made his MLB debut with the A's back in 2024 after holding a 0.55 ERA (3.13 FIP) across his first 48 2/3 innings in the minors, complete with a 29% strikeout rate and an 11.8% walk rate.

He notched 15 2/3 innings with the A's that season, holding a 4.02 ERA (3.87 FIP) to close out the '24 campaign.

This past season he began the year in the minors, collecting eight appearances spanning 9 1/3 innings, before being called up by the club at the end of April. He was again pitching a shutout in the minors.

With the A's in Sacramento, Holman wasn't quite as effective, and his season was cut short in the middle of June when he landed on the IL with right shoulder rotator cuff tendinitis. He finished the season with a 5.09 ERA (4.66 FIP), while his strikeout rate was just 16.5%.

His fastball velocity has been roughly league average, while his extension ranked in the 94th percentile, meaning that velo plays up a little bit since he's going to be a touch closer to home when he releases the ball.

How Holman fits with Arizona

As for how he fits with the Diamondbacks, he's projected to start the season in the minors, with three other bullpen right-handers also on the 40-man roster. Those pitchers are projected to be Andrew Hoffmann, Juan Burgos and Juan Morillo. Lefty Philip Abner is also expected to be in that mix.

Aside from his dominance of the minor leagues in recent seasons, there is one more reason that Holman could be a solid addition for Arizona. While he held an ERA that was over five in his 22 appearances last year, he also had a number of scoreless outings on the season.

He allowed runs in just five of his 22 outings, and it was his last one (before his season ended due to injury) where he gave up three earned runs without recording an out. Coming into that game, he'd held a 3.91 ERA.

The one issue here is that he allowed multiple runs (including five on May 22) in four of those five run-allowing outings.

The Diamondbacks getting Holman is a solid low-cost acquisition that could serve them well. Arizona finished with the No. 27 ranked bullpen ERA in the game last year, sitting at a 4.82. It certainly doesn't hurt to have another upside option to have at their disposal.

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