Texas Rangers Derek Holland finally scheduled to pitch

The Texas Rangers have finally given pitcher Derek Holland a date to return to the mound.  After tonight’s game against the Oakland Athletics they announced that Derek Holland will pitch Wednesday for the Frisco Rough Riders (AA).

Derek Holland has been on the disabled list since day one of the season due to an accident he had while playing with his dog Wrigley.  That injury required him to have microfracture surgery to repair torn cartilage behind the kneecap of his left knee.

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He’s been working hard to get back on the mound as soon as possible and early reports from him suggested that he would return prior to the All-star break.  But, things haven’t gone exactly that way for him or the Texas Rangers.  His knee hasn’t healed a quickly and either had hoped.

Since the beginning of July the team and Ron Washington have been watching him field during live batting practice and have been concerned about his fielding abilities.  He still appeared to favor the injured leg and there are concerns he still doesn’t have 100% strength in it.

But that hasn’t stopped Holland from working hard to rejoin the team this year.  He’ll get his chance starting Wednesday.  All eyes will be on him in Frisco to see how well he can pitch and play defense.  He’ll probably get several starts there with the goal of getting his pitch count near 100 and his knee strength back up.

The Texas Rangers want to make sure before he returns to the majors he’s 100% ready and he won’t re-injury the knee.  Holland will likely be the number 2 pitcher for the Texas Rangers, but he won’t be playing with the a goal of making the playoffs.  With that said, you might see Ron Washington using Holland very carefully for the remainder of the season.  Either way, everyone should be excited to see him return next month.tex