Major league phase
The Astros took 6’4″ 240-lb righty Lincoln Holdzkom in the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft. Holdzkom was originally selected by the Marlins in the 7th round of the 2001 draft after he was reportedly kicked off the roster at Arizona Western JC for “insubordination”. He reached high A-ball in 2003 but then underwent TJS and missed all of 2004 and pitched just 13 innings in 2005. Traded to the Cubs in March of this year along with another minor leaguer in exchange for Todd Wellemeyer. The 24-year old split time this past year at three different levels in the Cubbies system, with most of his time spent at AA West Tenn where he rang up a 1.95 ERA in 32.1 IP with a .221 BAA and a 27:10 K/W ratio. The Astros presumably got a good look-see at Holdzkom recently as he pitched for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League, the same club for which all their own prospects were playing. John Tamargo, Jr. was the bench coach there and may have been instrumental in providing reports and a recommendation. It wasn’t about the numbers, though, as Holdzkom had a 7.08 ERA and 1.62 WHIP for Mesa (although when you only pitch 20.1 innings a couple of bad outings can really play hell with the results).
Holdzkom definitely doesn’t fit the standard Astros’ player profile: problems with coaches (which have also occurred since he joined the professional ranks), nipple rings and tattoos aren’t usually part of the resume. Any character issues, though, presumably were addressed at least in part by Tamargo being able to closely observe him over the last couple of months.
He sported a 97-mph heater before the TJS but the most recent report (this past August) says he was throwing low to mid ’90s.
2006 statistics (including AFL)
The Astros did not lose any players in this phase of the draft.
AAA phase
The Astros made no selection in the AAA phase and lost no players.
AA phase
The Astros made no selection in the AA phase and lost no players.