Mets' experiment with reliever-turned-starter Clay Holmes paying off in droves

When the Mets signed Clay Holmes to a three-year, $38 million deal in the offseason, it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that the right-hander would be a part of New York’s starting rotation.

Sure, that was president of baseball operations David Stearns‘ plan, but the tall task was a daunting one as the 32-year-old had spent the majority of his seven-year career as a relief pitcher, save for four starts he made his rookie year with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2018.

Now, it’s hard to imagine Holmes not in the Mets’ rotation as he owns a 3.07 ERA (1.16 WHIP) through 12 starts and 67.1 innings so far this season — a testament to New York’s coaching staff and organization as a whole.

Holmes’ latest start on Sunday against the Colorado Rockies was a milestone for the right-hander as he went seven innings for the first time in his career. He allowed three earned runs after giving up two home runs aided by the wind, but the offense, led by the Mets’ big three, did just enough to give him his sixth win of the season.

“I thought he was really, really good,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game. “I thought the life on all of his pitches, especially the four-seam, the two-seam — other than the two pitches that they hit for homers — the slider, the changeup. And I thought he elevated the four-seam effectively. The whole time I’m watching him and just with the way the ball was coming out, it had life and he was really good.”

After just 85 pitches thrown over those seven innings, Holmes probably had enough left in the tank to go even deeper, but the Mets weren’t about to push their starter even more than they already had and have this season.

Nevertheless, the outing was another great one for Holmes who has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 10 of 12 starts this season.

“I feel like I’m in a good rhythm right now, in a good routine, recovering well,” Holmes said. “… For me to go out there and give some length, it feels good.”

Before Sunday’s start, four out of his last five starts Holmes had gone six innings. Compare that to pitching 5.1 innings or less in five of his first six starts and the writing was on the wall for a game like this out of the former reliever.

And despite only recording three strikeouts on the day, Holmes, known more as a ground ball specialist, was a groundout machine against Colorado, totaling 10 outs on the ground.

Weak contact on the ground early in counts and letting the defense behind him make plays was part of the reason he was able to go deeper than he has all season.

“It was really good to see that and I felt like in that seventh inning he was still touching 94 (mph), kept getting ground balls and that’s his calling card,” Mendoza said. “… I thought he was in pretty good shape throughout the outing, those middle innings, I thought overall he was in complete control.”

Fully entrenched as a starter now, what will be interesting for Holmes is how the Mets deploy him for the rest of the season as he’s just 2.2 innings away from matching his career-high in innings pitched (70 innings in 2021).

What will help is the calvary that is on its way, starting with Paul Blackburn on Monday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers and Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea not far behind.

Regardless, Holmes deserves a lot of credit for even putting New York in this position, stepping up in a big way for a team that had a lot of question marks on the pitching side entering the season.

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