Here’s Why Red Sox’s Brock Holt Was Away From Team Wednesday Vs. Indians

If you watched the Red Sox’s 7-6 and 5-1 wins over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday and Wednesday, you likely noticed someone missing from the Boston bench.

Not only was Brock Holt not in the starting lineup, he wasn’t with the team at all.

Well it turns out the utility man had a pretty good reason to be away from the team. According to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo, Holt left Cleveland on Tuesday before the win after his Navarro College baseball coach, Derwood “Pops” Penney, died at age 78 on Saturday.

Brock Holt is away from the Red Sox for personal reasons. His junior college coach at Navarro College, Derwood “Pops” Penney, died this week. The two were very close.

— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) August 14, 2019

Holt honored his late coach with a touching Instagram post:

View this post on Instagram

He was the greatest man I’ve ever met. A coach, a friend, a mentor, a husband, a father, my hero. He was the best at all of them. I love you Pops.

A post shared by Brock Holt (@brock_holt) on Aug 12, 2019 at 10:12am PDT

Holt will re-join the Sox in Boston on Wednesday night and be available for the team’s series opener against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park on Friday.