Clay Holmes is entering unfamiliar territory this spring, swapping Tampa for Port St. Lucie and the reliever life for a starting role.
So certainly one of the more intriguing members of the Mets rotation arrived at their spring training complex over every week ago — with pitchers and catchers not required to report until Feb. 12 — to get a head start on his buildup.
The previous Yankees closer, who signed with the Mets on a three-year, $38 million contract last month, is inspired by how the transition to becoming a starter has gone up to now.
“It’s not like I’m having to necessarily change who I’m as a pitcher,” Holmes said Saturday on the Mets fan fest at Citi Field. “It’s like, you do these items, and there’s a whole lot of belief there that a whole lot of good can come from being a starting pitcher.”
The Mets are banking on that being the case with Holmes a part of a rotation that has loads of upside — and not using a true ace — but a good amount of risk as well.
They re-signed Sean Manaea, coming off a profession yr, to anchor the group and hope to have potential ace Kodai Senga coming back healthy after an injury-marred 2024.
Together with Holmes, the Mets signed Frankie Montas — one other ex-Yankee who has been effective when not battling injuries — with David Peterson, Griffin Canning, Paul Blackburn and Tylor Megill also expected to be in the combo.
“We like not only the highest of our rotation, but we like our depth,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Saturday.
Holmes, who has only began 4 games within the majors (all coming as a rookie in 2018 with the Pirates), is certainly one of the arms that would help elevate the group.
And before he even threw a pitch in a Mets uniform, he received a nod of reassurance from Mendoza, who indicated that Holmes will stick within the rotation through good times and bad so long as he’s holding up well physically.
“I do know either way, I actually have to be my best self as a pitcher,” Holmes said. “That’s what I actually have to give attention to. If I’m doing that, I’m going to be an excellent starting pitcher.”
To ensure that that to occur, Holmes spent his offseason adding to his arsenal.
While he was predominantly a sinker-slider pitcher with the Yankees — to mostly strong results, though he lost his job because the closer to Luke Weaver late within the 2024 season — opposing batters hit Holmes’ bread-and-butter sinker (.317) higher than they ever had last season.
He threw the pitch 56.3 percent of the time and much more often (63.2 percent) against left-handed hitters, who hit .346 off it.
Due to that, Holmes knew he was probably going to need to expand his arsenal even when he remained a reliever.
He had tinkered with a changeup within the bullpen last yr and added a four-seam fastball just in time for the playoffs, with encouraging ends in a small sample size.
Now he has spent the offseason refining each pitches and likes what he has seen up to now.
“The metrics on [the changeup] are probably higher than my sinker without delay, so I just must see hitters swing at it, really,” Holmes said. “Add that in to lefties, I feel it’s going to make the four-seam play much more.”
Clay Holmes is entering unfamiliar territory this spring, swapping Tampa for Port St. Lucie and the reliever life for a starting role.
So certainly one of the more intriguing members of the Mets rotation arrived at their spring training complex over every week ago — with pitchers and catchers not required to report until Feb. 12 — to get a head start on his buildup.
The previous Yankees closer, who signed with the Mets on a three-year, $38 million contract last month, is inspired by how the transition to becoming a starter has gone up to now.
“It’s not like I’m having to necessarily change who I’m as a pitcher,” Holmes said Saturday on the Mets fan fest at Citi Field. “It’s like, you do these items, and there’s a whole lot of belief there that a whole lot of good can come from being a starting pitcher.”
The Mets are banking on that being the case with Holmes a part of a rotation that has loads of upside — and not using a true ace — but a good amount of risk as well.
They re-signed Sean Manaea, coming off a profession yr, to anchor the group and hope to have potential ace Kodai Senga coming back healthy after an injury-marred 2024.
Together with Holmes, the Mets signed Frankie Montas — one other ex-Yankee who has been effective when not battling injuries — with David Peterson, Griffin Canning, Paul Blackburn and Tylor Megill also expected to be in the combo.
“We like not only the highest of our rotation, but we like our depth,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Saturday.
Holmes, who has only began 4 games within the majors (all coming as a rookie in 2018 with the Pirates), is certainly one of the arms that would help elevate the group.
And before he even threw a pitch in a Mets uniform, he received a nod of reassurance from Mendoza, who indicated that Holmes will stick within the rotation through good times and bad so long as he’s holding up well physically.
“I do know either way, I actually have to be my best self as a pitcher,” Holmes said. “That’s what I actually have to give attention to. If I’m doing that, I’m going to be an excellent starting pitcher.”
To ensure that that to occur, Holmes spent his offseason adding to his arsenal.
While he was predominantly a sinker-slider pitcher with the Yankees — to mostly strong results, though he lost his job because the closer to Luke Weaver late within the 2024 season — opposing batters hit Holmes’ bread-and-butter sinker (.317) higher than they ever had last season.
He threw the pitch 56.3 percent of the time and much more often (63.2 percent) against left-handed hitters, who hit .346 off it.
Due to that, Holmes knew he was probably going to need to expand his arsenal even when he remained a reliever.
He had tinkered with a changeup within the bullpen last yr and added a four-seam fastball just in time for the playoffs, with encouraging ends in a small sample size.
Now he has spent the offseason refining each pitches and likes what he has seen up to now.
“The metrics on [the changeup] are probably higher than my sinker without delay, so I just must see hitters swing at it, really,” Holmes said. “Add that in to lefties, I feel it’s going to make the four-seam play much more.”
