Holton embracing recognition for do-everything role

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Tyler Holton was getting a well-deserved break after a long season when the messages came in from Tigers manager A.J. Hinch and pitching coach Chris Fetter. It was mid-November, and the Hot Stove season had begun.

¡°I thought, ¡®Oh, no,¡¯¡± Holton recalled Thursday morning.

It sounds crazy, the idea of the Tigers sending Holton anywhere after he became the anchor of the ¡°pitching chaos¡± strategy that helped propel Detroit to its first postseason berth in 10 years and then past the Astros in the AL Wild Card Series. And it would¡¯ve been crazy. But that wasn¡¯t why Holton¡¯s phone was chiming.

It was Nov. 21, the day Aaron Judge was named the unanimous winner of the American League MVP, his second such honor in three seasons. But down towards the bottom of the voting list was Holton, who received one 10th-place vote from Mike Wilner of the Toronto Star, who made a point to recognize Holton at the bottom of his 10-man ballot.

¡°Holton was the everyman for a patchwork pitching staff and, in my mind, deserved that tip of the cap,¡± Wilner explained in a column the next day.

It might have been a bigger shock than if Holton actually had been traded.

¡°It¡¯s much appreciated,¡± Holton said. ¡°It was a great year for the guys. I was surprised by it, but I¡¯m super humbled for it.¡±

Holton got another unexpected honor from the Tigers later. The team features a few players for bobbleheads to be given away during the season, and Detroit wanted to do one for Holton. The first 15,000 fans through the gates at Comerica Park on Saturday, June 28, prior to the Tigers¡¯ 1:10 p.m. ET game against the Twins will get a Tyler Holton bobblehead.

Holton has seen online renderings so far, but not a sample of the bobblehead yet. The renderings look very accurate for bobblehead standards.

¡°Oh, it¡¯s good,¡± he said. ¡°I like it. I want to see it in person, though.¡±

At the same time, it¡¯s wild. Holton, a waiver claim from Arizona two years ago, a do-everything pitcher with 10 career Major League wins and nine MLB saves on a team that has a Cy Young winner and several up-and-coming young stars, has an MVP vote and a bobblehead. He also has a growing legion of fans in Detroit, having become a sort of hipster choice for favorite Tiger.

Even in Holton¡¯s wildest baseball dreams, he wouldn¡¯t have imagined all this.

¡°Heck no,¡± he said. ¡°Like, I¡¯ll go home and just live a normal life, and then somebody will bring up something and it¡¯s like, ¡®Yeah, it¡¯s crazy.¡¯¡±

It¡¯s a sign of how much Holton is appreciated for a role that normally gets precious little recognition -- not a starter, not a closer (at least in a traditional sense), yet pretty much everything in between.

¡°I said thank you at the end of last year,¡± Hinch said, ¡°because he did everything for us, and he did it really well. So my message to him was he¡¯s one of the most valuable pitchers on this staff. He pitched in every role, pitched in every inning.¡±

The Tigers plan to use a traditional rotation to begin the season, having brought back Jack Flaherty and signed Alex Cobb for veteran options. But Holton¡¯s role is as important as ever. He was a massive factor for a year and a half before pitching chaos became a strategy.

¡°We¡¯re going to do much of the same,¡± Hinch continued. ¡°I think being able to hand the ball to somebody early in the game, but also feel comfortable with him getting the last three outs, I mean, that¡¯s a short list. And it¡¯s because of the adjustment that he¡¯s made, the three or four different roles that I ask him to do.

¡°He just wants the ball. He wants to pitch in wins. I¡¯ve let him know that he¡¯s an integral part of our ability to pitch.¡±

What makes Holton so versatile?

¡°I think it stems from open-mindedness,¡± Hinch said. ¡°When we got him as a waiver claim, we¡¯d already started Spring Training, he didn¡¯t know a ton of guys. Immediately he went to work with [Fetter] and our pitching group on tweaking a little bit of his pitch mix. The backdoor cutter became really good. He can do a lot of things with the ball, so that¡¯s a unique trait in itself. He¡¯s very efficient. He takes care of himself. His arm bounces back.

¡°I think it¡¯s the combination of all that that makes him a unique pitcher.¡±