Clay Holmes showing promise amid Mets' rotation injuries

Feb 27, 2025; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Clay Holmes (35) delivers a pitch against the Houston Astros during the first inning at Clover Park. Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Clay Holmes showing promise amid Mets' rotation injuries

Originally posted on New York Mets on SI | By Troy Brock | Last updated Feb 28, 2025 12:00 PM ET

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The New York Mets' plan was always to transition Clay Holmes from a reliever to a starter. With the injuries in the rotation mounting, a successful transition is now even more paramount.

This is not the first time in his career that Holmes has started games. In 2018, his first year in Major League Baseball, the righty made four starts with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He only made it through 15 innings in those starts while allowing 14 runs, 13 of them earned.

Those days are long gone for the veteran now, having spent the last six years of his career as a full-time reliever. The last three came with the New York Yankees and saw Holmes pick up all of his 74 career saves.

"It's nice to see this blue and orange on and see some guys start trickling in. I'm excited. There's a lot of big things ahead for the Mets this year."

- Clay Holmes pic.twitter.com/NHGuxX8rc0
— SNY (@SNYtv) February 3, 2025

Many were skeptical of Holmes transitioning to a starter. It has been done before, even as recently as 2024 with both Michael King and Garrett Crochet having successful role changes. However, there is still always the risk of it not working out, and it completely destroying a pitcher's confidence.

Holmes added two more pitches to his repertoire this season, a changeup and a cutter, to compliment his sinker, slider, sweeper, and four-seam fastball. The pitches are not entirely new to the veteran, as they were a part of his pitch mix earlier in his career. He has thrown the two new offerings a combined 19 times this spring, generating three whiffs and four called strikes.

It is still early, but to this point, Holmes has stepped up in a big way for the Mets when they have needed him the most. An already questionable starting rotation is now missing both Sean Manaea (oblique) and Frankie Montas (lat), who were gearing up to serve as two of the top three in the rotation.

This article first appeared on New York Mets on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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