Former Ranger Holland Turns to Coaching with Blazers

Derek Holland doesn't want to let go of the game. He's too connected to it to turn to something else. That's why he's willing to give back to baseball, which has given so much to him.

A 13-year Major League Baseball pitcher, Holland has been coaching with Dallas College North Lake's program. He works with the pitching staff, coaches first base, and serves as voice to every player in the dugout. He started volunteering with North Lake's program under erstwhile head coach Corey Mercer and former assistant David Strange on and off. This season, he's committed himself a little more, become more of a presence and taken a more active coaching role.

"I wanted to help these guys. The goal is the same for everybody: get to the Show," Holland said. "I want to try to do everything I can to prepare them for it, and get them ready so they can succeed at the next level. That's what it's all about, getting them there, getting their minds right, getting them to understand the pitching side of things. And I also try to help the hitters looking at pitchers, and let 'em know, 'These are things you should pay attention to when you're there in the dugout or you're out there on the field, watching what these guys are doing. You can learn a lot from guys that you're facing so when you get up to the plate, you know what's going on.' Same thing with pitchers is you're able to feed off each other. You're able to, 'Hey I might see so and so throwing this, and maybe he's letting up on a pitch.' I want them to catch these things because I'm not always going to be here. The coaches aren't always going to be able to help them either. You've got to be able to learn to do things on your own, and help your teammates out, push yourself and challenge yourself every single day."

Holland pitched in the Major League from 2009-21 with six organizations, spending the first eight years with the Texas Rangers. In 2011, he went 16-5 with a 3.95 earned run average and 162 strikeouts, while leading the American League in complete game shutouts with four. That season, he pitched in the World Series for the second straight year. He was 10-9 with a 3.42 ERA and career-best 189 strikeouts and two shutouts in 2013. Holland had a career record of 82-83 with a 4.62 ERA and 1,241 strikeouts, and went 3-1 in the postseason.

"We're really lucky to have Coach Holland," Blazers first-year head coach Lance Fairchild said. "He spent most of his career as a Texas Ranger. With us being a junior college in the DFW area, majority of our team are Texas Rangers fans. With him being a big part of those teams for about 7-8 years to his career, he's a familiar face to our guys. The other thing that's really cool that I think most people might not know is, he actually himself started off at the junior college level. So that's just really neat for our guys to see, 'Hey, you work hard, and do things right along the way, and hopefully you might have a chance, too."

North Lake sophomore pitcher Jake Nicholson has been with the program the last two years, both of which Holland has been in the dugout. While Nicholson claims he doesn't even know if the former Big Leaguer has ever seen him pitch in a game, the biggest takeaway he's gleaned from Holland is finding a way to get back to the dugout between innings as fast as possible.

"He really preaches getting quick outs," Nicholson said. "Especially as a starter, getting quick outs, that's the name of the game almost. I think it's kind of who I'm hearing it from. Just hearing it from him makes a difference. Obviously, I hear it from my teammates all the time. Just hearing it from him, that just makes it more (impactful). Him preaching quick outs, and getting ahead of the hitters, honestly, I think that's what's helped me the most.

"I don't think he did this last year, but he's staying more for the games and coaching first base. Just being able to hear him in between innings, he's always got something to say. He's always talking to the pitchers after the inning, like, 'What could you have done better in that at-bat?' If you gave up a couple walks in the inning, he'll talk to the pitchers, he'll just pull them aside, 'Hey, you're good.' He also preaches if a pitcher's doing bad, pick him up. He doesn't need to hear he's doing a bad job. He does a good job of telling the pitchers that, and also being a presence in the dugout."

Taking a Similar Path

Holland played for Wallace State Community College after high school, while growing up in Newark, Ohio. He was a 25th-round draft pick by the Rangers in 2006.

"I think a lot of guys, when they hear, 'Oh, I'm going to a juco,' they look at in the wrong manner," Holland began. "You've got to look on the bright side. One, you could drafted in your first year if you wanted to. Two, the competition is just as good as it is in four-year schools. You're still going to get a lot of high-talented players. For me, the reason I went juco was my grades. I was terrible. I'm not afraid to admit it. I preach that to the kids all the time. School is very important. You've got to focus and do the right things in the classroom so that you can come out here and play. If you're not doing that, you're not going to get that opportunity. The juco route is also a way to get back into it, get your feet right so that you can go on to that next level."

Yet getting to the next level is not a given. Maybe more so for junior college players, overcoming setbacks comes with the territory.

"Baseball is such a game of failure," Fairchild said. "I think that's one thing that a lot of young players really struggle with. He's been really big on that subject particularly. I think if they see and hear from a guy like that who's had so much success, that he struggled as well, that helps them really get through it."

Nicholson insists junior college players all understand why they begin their college careers at this level, although their routes and reasons why they ended up here have different layers. Holland's story serves as a reminder this current crop of ball players can move up, too.

"I think most of us know the position we're already in," Nicholson said candidly. "It just tells you, you're one thing away from getting to the next level."

The way Holland sees it, there's no reason they can't move on. Yet he believes to do so they have to change their mentality.

"The mindset there, that's what I'm trying to teach these guys," Holland said. "You want to be the starter and the closer. You want to go out there with the mindset of, 'I'm going nine innings.' The way I always looked at it, too, is, the teams I played for, they made me highlight videos of myself. One thing I preach, too, is the visualization of the mental side of things. When you're out there on the mound, you've already seen yourself being successful so when you go out there, it's a little bit easier to have that confidence. For me, I have a boxing mentality. I've got nine innings, nine rounds. I'm going to go out there every single inning and treat it like that round, 'OK, I might get beat this round. Next round, I'm coming out again, and I'm going to do my thing to bounce back.' For me I'm just trying to get that mentality for these guys: be a bulldog on the mound. 'You're a tough son of a gun. You're the king of that mound.'"

Holland personifies that bulldog presence. His talks to the team and local area high school teams exude that be-the-bigger-dog-in-the-fight approach in the game. That's the case for the Blazers, who've been in the middle of the pack in the Dallas Athletic Conference the past couple seasons.

"From what I've seen, a lot of guys it seems are afraid to pitch to contact," Holland said. "It's like they're afraid to give up that hit. At the end of the day, it's how quick you can forget. So what if you do give up a big hit. I've got to get that next guy. And just because some guy's committed to Texas Tech or whatever it is, you shouldn't think anything different of him. You should think I'm just as good as he is. I'm better. You should have that type of mentality out there. Be a competitor, go out there and do your job, and stay focused and stay within yourself."   

Holland has seen a psychiatrist who's worked with Rangers and Dallas Mavericks, Don Kalkstein, throughout his career. Some of the mental support Holland has received, he wants to pass on to the young players he's now coaching.

"When it comes to saying, 'can't,' don't say that," Holland said. "Just say, you haven't done it yet. Go out there and still try to. Keep saying, 'I haven't done it yet. I'm going to get it.' That's the mentality you should have. It's not, 'Oh I can't do it. This guy's so good.' You give so much credit to somebody else, and you forget who you are. My whole thing is I just want to push people to get the most out of themselves, and also get them to the next level."

Aside from working on technique, the mental wisdom Holland is passing along to the Blazers may be his biggest coaching contributions.

"He's just an open book in general, and he's all about helping our guys," Fairchild said. "He's on the same page with me and Coach (Albert) Najera, so he fits perfect, as far as a personality standpoint. He just wants to help. He's been very open. His path to the Big Leagues, he started in junior college. And I don't believe he was a really high draft pick, so he had to work his way up the ladder. Just that experience alone, and him being so willing to help, that helps us a lot.

"He's a very familiar name in the Texas area. We're a Texas junior college, so absolutely, his name is definitely going to help us in the recruiting phase. More than that, the way he is, his personality, he's just another guy out here. He's really personable, and he fits in perfect. He's got a lot of experience, and obviously knows the game really well. He played at the highest level for a long time. He's already been a really big help to our program."

It's a program trying to assume that bulldog persona in an attempt to climb to the top of the standings in years to come.

"You're representing not only the school, but the name on the back," Holland said. "You want to make something out of that. You want to make a legacy for yourself, but also a legacy for the school, too."