First.dle, I started by just, you know, searching. Just to get the basic facts straight. Found out he's the Orioles' pitching coach, but also the Director of Pitching. That "Director" part sounded important, like it was more than just coaching the guys on the field.
Then I looked around for any interviews, any articles, anything where he's talking. This is where I started to get a sense of his approach. Seems like he's big on blending, like, the old-school pitching knowledge with all the new data and technology they have now. He really emphasizes using all these stats, and all the information they get from high speed cameras, to help each pitcher improve individually.
I .mehalso tried to see if there were any videos of him working with the pitchers, any behind-the-scenes stuff. This was a little harder to find, to be honest. But I did find some clips of Orioles' pitchers talking about how Holt had helped them. One guy was talking about how Holt helped him develop a new pitch, another said that his approach helped improve his consistency.
Diving a little deeper
What I noticed, and I am no expert so take it with a grain of salt, is that he's not just about the data, though. He's still talking to the pitchers, getting to know them, figuring out what makes them tick. It's all about using the numbers to help understand the problem, but then using that human coaching connection to actually fix it.
- Started with basic searching.
- Looked for interviews and articles to get his own words.
- Tried to find videos to see him in action.
- Read about pitchers who improved under him.
So, basically, I went from just knowing the name "Chris Holt" to actually understanding a bit about what he brings to the Orioles. He is not just a pitching coach, he's like, a pitching strategist, figuring out how to make the whole pitching staff better, one pitcher at a time.
