And now he has been highly effective in two appearances for the team he grew up cheering for in Conway, S.C.

Crazy is about right.

There’s no telling how long this ride lasts, but it’s a sweet reward for holding onto a dream, having the fortitude to make it happen and not counting giving up as an option.

“Never,” he said. “Somebody’s going to have to take (my jersey) off my back for me to get out of the game.”

It almost did happen when Oakland sent him packing. Given that his ERA that season with the Athletics’ Triple-A affiliate was 8.27, it made sense. But about two weeks after the Athletics gave him his release in July of that year, the Braves signed him to a minor league contract, seeing the promise he displayed as a 2014 first-round pick of the Dodgers. (One Braves executive who had insight into Holmes — general manager Alex Anthopoulos, who in 2016 had just joined the Dodgers as their vice president of baseball operations when they traded Holmes to Oakland.)

Under the care of the Braves’ developmental arm, he turned his career around. Assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett at the start of the 2023 season, he finished the year with a 3.54 ERA in 61 innings, all in relief. This year, he lowered it to 2.63 in 41 innings — splitting between starting and relief — to earn the promotion to Atlanta.

“The development that I’ve been able to get better at being a pitcher, working on things, it’s honestly been a blessing to have these guys develop me into who I am now,” Holmes said Monday.

The hair has its own development story. At the time of his trade in 2016, he wore his brown curls in a puffy look. But lost in the deal was Holmes’ proximity to the woman who cut his hair. Being particular with his locks, he just let it grow out.

“When I got home during the offseason, I didn’t get it trimmed because whenever it got longer, I started to like it a little bit more,” he said.

It is now a sight — the curls spill out from his cap and flow down below his shoulders, accented by a thick mustache that extends to his jawline.

It is trimmed either by Holmes’ mother-in-law or his wife, Sami.

Holmes’ journey now goes to New York, where the Braves play a three-game weekend series against the Yankees. Holmes, 10-year minor leaguer, could take the Yankee Stadium mound in relief of Sale or (friggin’) Morton.

Pretty crazy.

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