Turns out, New York Yankees legend Mariano Rivera knew what he was talking about when it came to relief pitching. On May 13, reliever Clay Holmes had a 4.11 ERA over his first 17 appearances — a disappointing start after he had been an All-Star for the first time in his career in 2022. Rivera was watching when a week before Holmes blew a save when he entered the game with a 2-1 lead, gave up three hits and the Yankees ended up losing. Yet Rivera was unfazed.
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“I blew games like that and everybody was rattled,” Rivera said at the time. “It was like, ‘Oh, my God! He’s lost it!’ (But) at the end of the year, it was the same numbers. I was consistent. Clay has the ability to do that and beyond.”
Rivera was right. On one of the most underwhelming and inconsistent Yankees teams in quite some time, Holmes was solid. Over 66 appearances, Holmes had a 2.86 ERA, earning 24 saves. His 1.5 fWAR was the best on the Yankees and the 13th-best among MLB relievers. His 2.65 FIP was the 10th-best among relievers with at least 50 innings.
Holmes said his breakout success in 2022 helped him prepare for this year.
“It was a good learning experience for me,” he said. “Definitely gained some confidence through it, but at the end of the day, you really learned that you should trust your stuff whether it’s good or bad.”
Clay Holmes, 94mph Sinker & 82mph Sweeper, Overlay. pic.twitter.com/8qoaondHHa
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 25, 2023
Holmes’ success could make his future uncertain. While manager Aaron Boone will need a performance akin to what Holmes provided if the team hopes to rebound in 2024, he could be an attractive trade chip. Holmes will be a free agent after next season, and MLB Trade Rumors’ Matt Swartz recently projected that he could make $6 million in his final year of salary arbitration. With virtually every team on the hunt most offseasons for high-level back-of-the-bullpen types, the Yankees could be tempted to flip Holmes to address a need elsewhere. But, of course, that would leave the Yankees without the groundball machine they have leaned so heavily on the past two seasons.
Holmes also attributed his solid season to improved command and the better utilization of the two sliders he throws. Holmes’ bread-and-butter pitch is a 96 mph sinker that helped him to a 65.5 percent groundball rate this season — third-best in the majors. He said he felt like he learned to do a better job of commanding the pitch to lefties, which also helped him throw a shorter, sharper slider to southpaw hitters compared to the more traditional slider he uses vs. righties. The adjustments appeared to pay off. In 2023, lefties had just a .560 OPS in 114 plate appearances vs. Holmes compared to the .692 mark they put up against him in 107 plate appearances last year. Holmes credited his work with pitching coach Matt Blake, assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel and bullpen coach Mike Harkey for his improvement.
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“The command to the glove side has really opened up a lane for a slider to lefties,” he said. “The confidence in it, the trust in it went a long way. I know that if I can throw that (slider) off the sinker inside, it just makes it a lot harder to lefties. I think being able to use that slider, and that bigger slider to righties, it helps get that swing and miss, whether it’s landing early, or when I have the sinker available to just rip two or three of those and know that I can get some chase with it. It’s been big.”
This season was also the first that Holmes didn’t land on the injured list for the first time since 2018.
“One thing I went through and learned last year was kind of how to handle the load of a full season within high leverage,” said Holmes, whom the Yankees acquired in a trade with the Pirates in 2021. “I think throughout this year I did a lot better of a job just knowing how to carry the load. Obviously, coming into this year, I wanted to finish stronger than I kind of started. Personally, that was the goal, and it felt good. I feel like I’m ending in a really good spot here.”
And Holmes was especially glad to have figured it out after that slow start, proving Rivera right.
“Anytime you can stumble and learn and come out the other side, it’s always a good thing,” he said. “But to finish the year fully healthy and kind of on a good note — it’s nice to go into the offseason ready to get after it.”
(Top photo: Joe Sargent / MLB Photos via Getty Images)