In my chat on Tuesday, a reader asked my thoughts on John Holdzkom, if I thought he was for real. I didn't know anything about him, other than a name I had seen in a Pirates box score. I hadn't heard of him as a prospect, hadn't seen him pitch, just assumed he was another minor league reliever called up as another arm in the bullpen.

As it turns out, Holdzkom has a pretty interesting story. He's a 26-year-old, 6-foot-7 right-hander with a 95 mph fastball and, apparently, the only palmball in the majors. In his second major league outing, he picked up a save in a 5-3 win over the Cubs, pitching the bottom of the 11th and striking out two of the three batters he faced. So far, in three appearances, he's allowed one hit in three innings with six punchouts.

Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs has the story on Holdzkom's rise from nowhere, complete with palmball GIFs and links to this Baseball America story by J.J. Cooper and a transcript of Holdzkom calling in to a podcast (after he had apparently washed out of the minors) and admitting he had blown all of his $210,000 signing bonus (among other issues).

Holdzkom signed with the Mets as a fourth-round pick in 2006, didn't throw strikes and got hurt. He missed all of 2011, pitched sparingly for the Reds' organization in 2012, and then spent 2013 pitching for Amarillo and Sioux City of the independent American Association, walking 36 batters in 43.2 innings.

He got cut from the Sioux Falls team in spring training and eventually ended up pitching for San Angelo in the United League, an even lower rung of independent baseball, for $600 a month. From there, he moved back up to Amarillo for a few games, and the Pirates signed him; somewhere in there he slightly changed the grip on his fastball and started throwing more strikes. He pitched four games for Double-A Altoona and 18 at Triple-A Indianapolis (combined numbers: 36.2 IP, 22 H, 14 BB, 46 SO) and Pittsburgh added him to the 40-man roster on Aug. 31, making him eligible for the postseason.

Whew. That's a wild ride, a little reminiscent of Mariners reliever Tom Wilhelmsen, who had washed out of the Brewers' system and become a bartender before giving baseball another try.

Is Holdzkom for real? I have no idea. The arm is legit, the palmball looks nasty, and while the command may still be iffy, it's good enough now to carve out a major league career.

It makes you wonder: How many other John Holdzkoms are out there? Change your grip, don't give up on the game, just hoping for one more shot...