Holt: "My primary job is the major league pitching staff"

Giving Chris Holt two titles and sets of responsibilities raised one very interesting question.

How would he blend his roles as Orioles pitching coach and director of pitching?

Holt made it clear this afternoon in a Zoom conference call with the media that his new assignment as Doug Brocail's replacement is the top priority.

"My primary job is the major league pitching staff," he said. "The goal of remaining the director of pitching is to have a top-down approach, make sure there's continuity from the minor league system up to the big leagues. We have a great minor league staff and outreach to every coach on the minor league side. So as far as maintaining the director role, it's really about continuity."

Holt was hired from the Astros organization following Mike Elias' arrival in 2018 as executive vice president/general manager. First as minor league pitching coordinator, assigned to overhaul a system that hadn't really been introduced to the data and technology that other organizations embraced and infused.

The results were immediate, with rising strikeout totals throughout the system and improved command.

Next came the director of pitching role in 2020, building a bridge between the majors and minors. Holt has walked across it, and he'll keep finding more prospects who have risen through the system.

Keegan Akin, Dean Kremer and Bruce Zimmermann debuted last summer. More arms are on the way.

"The major part of last year was trying to oversee smooth transitions for our arriving prospects, and as far as being able to be in the big leagues last year and develop relationships with players on the big league staff, the big league coaching staff, and then being able to oversee smooth transitions, I felt like it was a really valuable place to be. And then also being able to kind of oversee how we can better prepare the minor league pitchers, being able to see day in and day out what it takes to get to the big leagues and stay," Holt said.

"So to be able to go back and describe what it is that actually goes on for players and for coaches to help them expedite development was a great resource."

Holt said he isn't worried about maintaining his focus on the major league roster while also delivering his message throughout the organization and making certain that the proper work is done below.

There's a lot of trust placed in the pitching coaches, including Triple-A Norfolk's Kennie Steenstra and Double-A Bowie's Justin Ramsey.

"As far as being involved in the day in and day out of the minor league side, I don't envision that being the case," Holt said. "What we really want to do is maintain a top-down approach and make sure we have the continuity from the things that we built thus far continue with this year. And obviously with the demand of the job from the major league pitching staff, that will take priority.

"If there's one thing that we want to make sure of at all levels is that we are using the strengths and the natural tendencies of the player himself and you try to get the most out of that player so he can help himself perform for the team, for the organization. And I think the other piece that we want to make sure of is, for the guys at the lower levels, that we can build a stronger base of skill from the outset when they get to pro baseball.

"Some guys will come in with one or two strengths and you try to build as many strengths as possible. And at the big league level you're trying to leverage as many strengths as they currently have and make sure they know how to go about their business with that approach instead of trying to do something new or extra. It's, 'How do I do what I'm good at a bunch and round out my skill set from there?"

Holt could become the analytical face of the organization's pitching. A more recognizable figure to fans.

The scenario doesn't appear to bother him or threaten to bring more pressure.

"The important thing to remember here is the priority is our major league pitchers and our major league team and winning as many games as we can in 2021 is our goal," he said.

"I have the ability to bring in the skill set that I have, that I've been working with since I've developed as a coach, and I've grown with some of these things. Again, the goal is always to be approaching players, approaching the game with a sense of balance between data, numbers, information, and feel for the player, feel for the situation and feel for the game."

The 40-man roster now includes Zac Lowther, Michael Baumann and Alexander Wells, likely headed to Norfolk's rotation with promotions possible later in the summer. DL Hall was ticketed for Bowie last year, with Grayson Rodriguez a level below him.

"We've seen flashes of big league potential or big league readiness out of everybody," said Holt, who spent the bulk of last summer at the alternate camp site in Bowie. "Obviously with Akin, Kremer, Zimmermann, those guys are more consistent with what they bring to the table right now."