Cullowhee, N.C. – Two former Western Carolina Catamount baseball players have signed free agent contracts this week during the Major League Baseball off-season. Veteran right-hander Greg Holland resigned with the Kansas City Royals where he pitched in the 2020 season while infielder/DH Tyler White was signed to a minor-league contract and received a spring training invitation from the Toronto Blue Jays.
Having pitched for the Royals in 2020, Holland returns to the franchise that drafted him back in 2007 and where he spent six years of his career that included two All-Star nods (2013 and 2014) and being a part of the 2015 World Series Championship team. Most importantly for the 35-year old though, pitching in the 2021 season would push him past the 10-year career threshold. Holland signed a one-year deal worth $2.75 million with an additional $1.5 million in performance-based bonuses.
Advancing through Kansas City's farm system, Holland made his MLB debut back in August 2010 at Oakland. The 10th-round draft pick pitched for the Royals until an injury sidelined him for the 2016 season. Over those six seasons, he recorded 145 saves in 161 opportunities. After a year of rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, he resurfaced in the National League with the Colorado Rockies in 2017, regaining All-Star status with 41 saves.
Holland bounced between St. Louis and Washington in 2018 before spending the 2019 season in Arizona where he had a 4.54 ERA and 17 total saves.
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Holland returned home, so to speak, before the 2020 season, inking a minor-league deal with the Royals with a chance to make the big-league squad. Earning his roster spot, the Marion, N.C., native appeared in 28 games with 31 strikeouts over 28.1 innings. He recorded a 1.91 ERA, finishing the year with 13.1 scoreless innings over his final 13 appearances of the abbreviated season.
All told, Holland has a 2.90 career ERA over 494 appearances with 619 strikeouts and 212 career saves. A former walk-on in Cullowhee, Holland recorded 19 saves at WCU from 2005-07 and earned first-team All-SoCon plaudits as a junior in helping the Catamounts to the NCAA Chapel Hill regional.
Returning stateside after playing nine games for SK Wyverns in the Korean Baseball Organization after being released from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tyler White signed a minor-league deal with Toronto this week. He'll also be invited to the squad's spring training in Dunedin, Fla.
Drafted in the 33rd round by the Houston Astros back in 2013, White progressed through the minors, hitting at every level before making his MLB debut in 2016. That first season, the slugger legged out 16 doubles with eight home runs over 86 games played. He became the first rookie position player in American League history to earn the AL Player of the Week honor for the first week of a season after batting .556 (10-of-18) with two doubles, three homers, and nine RBI.
Dubbed the "the Great White" during a career-best 2018 season, White keyed a Houston playoff run with Houston. But after opening the following season with the Astros, the club traded him to the Dodgers after 71 games and a .225 batting average that featured 14 doubles, three homers, and 21 RBI. White only played in 12 games with LA before being relegated to the injured reserved and later designated for assignment.
The SoCon Player of the Year in 2013, White tallied 287 career hits over four seasons to rank fifth in WCU's record books. His 64 career doubles are the third-most in program history.
Earlier this month, White was married to Brenham, Texas, native Alli Spivey, who played collegiate softball at Abilene Christian.
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