Ethan Hollingsworth

ETHAN HOLLINGSWORTH	RIGHT HANDED PITCHER
	Born: May 4, 1987 Height: 6’2″ Weight: 200 Bats: Right Throws: Right Drafted: 4th round, 137th overall pick, 2008 (Rockies) How Acquired: Rule 5 Draft, Minor League Phase College: Western Michigan University Agent: N/A

WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

Hollingsworth is a finesse righty who throws an 89-92 mph fastball and an average curve and change. He gets a lot of groundballs, but has been pretty hittable. He’s never had any whole or partial season at any level in which he’s had fewer hits allowed than innings pitched. His command was good enough that he had solid K rates in the low minors, but he hasn’t missed many bats at the AA and AAA levels. The Pirates selected him in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft.

2008
R+: 4-7-0, 6.10 ERA, 1.63 WHIP, 59.0 IP, 2.4 BB/9, 8.4 K/9

Hollingsworth struggled as a starter in his debut. He got hit hard, although his walk and K rates were good.

2009
A: 5-6-0, 4.05 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 86.2 IP, 1.9 BB/9, 7.9 K/9
A+: 3-3-0, 4.83 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 59.2 IP, 2.4 BB/9, 8.4 K/9

Hollingsworth split the season as a starter between the two class A levels. He pitched better than his ERA indicates in low A, but got hit much harder in high A.

2010
A+: 12-8-0, 3.31 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 160.1 IP, 1.9 BB/9, 8.6 K/9
AA: 0-0-0, 9.58 ERA, 1.84 WHIP, 10.1 IP, 3.5 BB/9, 7.8 K/9

The Rockies sent Hollingsworth back to high A and he had a good season there, although he still had slightly more hits allowed (161) than innings pitched. After the season they traded him to the A’s.

2011
AA: 6-5-1, 3.61 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 94.2 IP, 2.2 BB/9, 6.3 K/9
AAA: 1-0-0, 5.06 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 10.2 IP, 3.4 BB/9, 5.9 K/9

Hollingsworth got good results in AA, but his K rate dropped sharply. The A’s traded him to the Royals at the end of the season.

2012
AA: 3-8-2, 4.17 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 73.1 IP, 2.6 BB/9, 5.8 K/9
AAA: 2-3-0, 6.44 ERA, 1.88 WHIP, 29.1 IP, 3.1 BB/9, 5.5 K/9

Hollingsworth served as a swing man in both AA and AAA. He didn’t pitch quite as well as the year before in AA and got hammered in AAA.

2013
AA: 6-5-0, 3.55 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 83.2 IP, 2.2 BB/9, 5.1 K/9
AAA: 0-1-0, 4.50 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 10.0 IP, 0.9 BB/9, 5.4 K/9

Hollingsworth served as a swing man at Altoona and also made two starts for Indianapolis when the Indians were short-handed. He spent the last month of the minor league season on the disabled list. He pitched well for the Curve, a little better as a starter than as a reliever, but he struggled a little in his last four starts, possibly due to whatever landed him on the disabled list. He didn’t miss many bats and was more of a flyball than groundball pitcher, including modest issues with gopher balls (11).

Hollingsworth seems to have topped out at AA. He won’t be eligible for minor league free agency for another year, so it’s likely he’ll be back at Altoona in 2014.

STATS

Baseball Reference–Minors
Fangraphs
MiLB.com

CONTRACT INFORMATION

2014: Minor league contract

PLAYER INFORMATION

Signing Bonus: $215,000
MiLB Debut: 2008
MLB Debut: N/A
MiLB FA Eligible: 2014
MLB FA Eligible: N/A
Rule 5 Eligible: Eligible
Added to 40-Man: N/A
Options Remaining: 3
MLB Service Time: 0.000

TRANSACTIONS

June 5, 2008: Drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 4th round, 137th overall pick; signed on June 7.
January 24, 2011: Traded by the Colorado Rockies to the Oakland Athletics for Clayton Mortensen.
September 27, 2011: Traded by the Oakland Athletics to the Kansas City Royals for Kila Ka’aihue.
December 6, 2012: Selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft.