Greg Holland (RP, KC) - Week 2 Waiver Wire Pickups

Brady Grove profiles long time Royals reliever Greg Holland as a potential waiver wire acquisition of value for fantasy baseball leagues in Week 2 of the 2020 MLB campaign.

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ANALYSIS: Greg Holland is 34 years old, and to be perfectly honest, I would've believed you if you told me that he was 42 when considering the career that he has had. Holland is a three-time All-Star with 207 career saves and two placements within the AL Cy Young and MVP voting back in 2013 and 2014, and even handled his one-year transition to Coors Field with ease (which, as we are constantly reminded, is no simple task for a closer).

After limited runs of varied success with Washington, St. Louis, and Arizona over the last two seasons, Holland finds himself back in the Kansas City bullpen where he made his name, and surprisingly, has carved himself out as the probable closer very early in the 2020 campaign. So far, Holland has already picked up a save, three strikeouts, a WHIP of 1.00, and zero ER over 3.0 IP. "Dirty South" has made several adjustments to his pitching approach to adapt to the aging process, namely, a 20% reduction in fastball frequency (which he is now tossing again at 92.7 MPH), a 20% increase in slider usage (clocking in at 85.7 MPH), considerably less use of the curve (78.3 MPH), and a 2.3% usage of his split-finger (his highest rate of usage since 2015). There is some competition in the Royals bullpen such as Ian Kennedy, Trevor Rosenthal, Glenn Sparkman, and Kevin McCarthy (not to mention whatever the Matt Harvey signing could mean). Even so, with Kansas City trying to get "creative" with their cast of relievers, that likely leaves the field to take part in experimentation with Greg Holland locked in to the ninth inning (even if Kansas City won't often find themselves ahead).