PORT ST. LUCIE — Clay Holmes admitted it felt a little different showing up to the ballpark on Saturday. He was not only arriving to make his Mets debut, but it also was his first start day since his rookie season back in 2018.
Holmes signed on a three-year deal this offseason with the expectation that he’d be transitioning from his role as a reliever into New York’s starting rotation — and he certainly made a strong first impression.
The right-hander cruised his way through a young Astros lineup, inducing four groundouts and striking out three across three perfect innings in the Grapefruit League opener.
“This was the most excited I’ve been to pitch,” he said. “New team, first start in a real game in a while. A lot of things have happened in between, just reflecting on that and realizing the opportunity I have and who I’m doing it with. It was an exciting day.
“I definitely felt it coming to the park. I tried to sit in the dugout before I ran out just to see all the new players and the energy that’s here. Just realizing I get to run out in the first inning and the opportunity I have with this team, it made it a special day for sure.”
Working with catcher Francisco Alvarez for the first time, Holmes mixed in his full arsenal of pitches, including his new kick-changeup — which he feels could be a real weapon for him in a number of different ways.
“Obviously it’s going to be a weapon against lefties,” he said. “But I think it’ll also help me protect my sinker. It’ll be more of a speed gap between my sinker and changeup that are going down and away from lefties — opening more room for the cutter and four-seam. It’s really just to expand the arsenal and have a few different looks.”
Carlos Mendoza certainly wasn’t surprised to see the pitch be so effective early on.
“That’s what we’ve seen so far from him,” he said. “In bullpen sessions and live BP, that’s the feedback we’ve been getting from the hitters. I went up to some of them and asked what it was looking like and they said ‘That’s pretty nasty.’
“It just comes down to him trusting that pitch in games and real competition when he needs to make a pitch to get out of an inning. He threw a few of them today, so that was definitely a good sign.”
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