It’s no secret who will be leading Florida State in 2018. Tyler Holton is one of the best pitchers in the country and will be the face of the Seminoles’ baseball team in the coming year.
The Tallahassee native and first-team All-American went 10-3 last season for the Noles with a 2.34 earned run average. Holton works from the left side of the mound with a plus change-up and command that makes him a nightmare for opposing batters, who hit less than .200 off of him last season.
Holton creates swing-and-misses at the plate, which helped him lead the Seminoles in strikeouts with 144 in 119.1 innings pitched, good for the sixth-most in school history. The next closest Seminole hurler last season, Drew Parrish, struck out 93 batters — 51 less than Holton.
The 6-foot-2 junior also had double-digit strikeouts in six different games. The last Seminole to do so was Jonathan Johnson in 1995 — a year before Holton was born.
The only pitcher in ACC history to be named the conference’s Pitcher of the Week five times in one season, Holton was taken as a draft-eligible sophomore by the Miami Marlins with the 1,049th pick in the 35th round of the 2017 Major League Draft.
If it is not clear yet, Tyler Holton is an outstanding pitcher — one of the best in the ACC and the country. But, he is still being underutilized by the Florida State coaching staff.
Holton has shown flashes of what he is capable of from the plate in his two years at FSU. In 73 at-bats, Holton has connected on four home runs and driven in 16 runs. A career .232 hitter, head coach Mike Martin has probably limited Holton too much when it comes to hitting.
His offensive numbers are not something that grabs your attention, but If you give Holton the time an average position player has with a bat in his hand, you have a solid middle of the order guy who will take advantage of the short distance in right field resulting in an eight to 10-home run season.
As we head into the 2018 season, Florida State needs to let Holton be the 2-way player he is capable of being. The Seminoles’ Hall of Fame head coach has never been scared to let his stars contribute both on the mound and at the plate (see Buster Posey, Mike McGee), but yet, Holton has not had the same opportunity.
“Tyler Holton is a really good one [2-way player], those guys make a huge impact on your program,” Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter said following a loss to Florida State last season in which Holton threw a complete-game shutout. “You can only dress 27 guys on the road on the weekends, so it just extends your roster when you get a guy that can do multiple things.”
He does not need to play every day, but if Holton is the Friday starter, he should be hitting on Saturday and Sunday, especially if a right-hander is on the mound for the opponent. If he gets tired, give him the midweek games to relax and get ready for his start on Friday, but if he is only the designated hitter, he should be fine to pitch and then hit in three to four games a week.
Holton has talent that does not come along with every recruiting class or every few classes. He is a guy that will be talked about for years to come once his time at Florida State is done. Martin has him for at least one more season, and he needs to take advantage of Holton’s ability both on the mound and with a bat in his hand.
finance85
October 17, 2017 at 12:01 pm
Great article. Mike Martin should read it.