Clay Holmes Finding Groove In Last Ditch Effort to Show He Belongs

Following the 2020 season, Clay Holmes was released by the Pittsburgh Pirates and looked all but don't with his pro baseball career. However, he was resigned a month later and is thriving with his last chance on a Major League roster.

When Clay Holmes was drafted in the 9th round of the 2011 MLB Draft, he came with a lot of promise behind him. He, along with Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon, were supposed to be the next young core of pitchers to lead the starting rotation. While Cole and Taillon each had successful runs for the Pirates, Holmes's career went slightly different as injury and ineffectiveness plagued his development. He made his MLB debut in 2018, and when he is healthy, he has never had an ERA under the 5.58 mark. 2020 was supposed to be the year where he turned things around, but a broken foot before the pandemic and a forearm strain after it limited him to one game. The Pirates ended up releasing Holmes following the season, and it looked like the end of the line for the 28-year-old in Pittsburgh.

However, the Pirates still had some faith in their young pitcher and decides to bring him back on a Minor League deal. It was a last chance for Homes to prove himself, and it was one he wasn't about to take lightly. He came into camp with a new attitude and a new body and was dominant not allowing an earned run in 10 games pitched while striking out eight. He earned the final spot on the Pirates Opening Day roster and was prepared to be a leader in the bullpen. However, during his third outing of the year, he gave up five earned runs on just 0.1 innings, and his ERA soared to 23.50. Things were looking like they were going bad again for Holmes, and that he was wasting another opportunity. However, since that moment, he has been thriving and has proved he deserves a spot in the Major Leagues in Pittsburgh.

Dominance From The Bullpen

Ever since that outing in Cincinnati, Holmes has buckled down and shown what he is capable of when he is on. Since that game, Holmes has posted a 0.90 ERA and has not allowed a run in 17 of his last 19 outings. He currently has an eight-inning scoreless streak and has not allowed an earned run since his April 21st appearance on the road against the Detroit Tigers. He added another scoreless inning in last night's 4-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs, going through the heart of the Cubs order. He got Joc Pederson to fly out to start the inning before allowing a single to Kris Bryant. Then, he finished the inning by striking out Javier Baez and got Ian Happ to ground out to end the inning and keep it a three-run game.

During this current stretch, Holmes has dropped his ERA to 3.09, and aside from that one outing has been outstanding this year. He has only allowed more than one earned run in a game once, and Opponents are hitting just .216 against Holmes this season. It seems that the key to Holmes's success this season has been his ability to pound the strike zone. He has only walked two batters during the month of May and has allowed a total of nine base runners this month. With much less traffic on the base paths, Holmes is able to more easily attack the strike zone with less fear of getting beat by a big hit. However, the biggest thing driving Holmes's success is something that you aren't going to find in a box score, and that is his heart.

Once Holmes got released by the Pirates in November 2020, that could have sunk him and ended any shot of Big League success. However, he accepted the Minor League free agent signing with the Pirates and has had a new attitude to him this season. He is working more efficiently than ever and is attacking the strike zone. He is throwing more strikes than ever this season, with a strike percentage of 62% while walking just 6.1% of the batters he has faced. He has taken his new opportunity in stride and, at just 28-years-old, he still could be a part of this Pirates team in the future. If he continues to pitch the way he has been this season, it may be a consideration the Pirates need to make.

What Has Changed?

The biggest change for Clay Holmes this season has really been his commitment to using his power sinker. In years past, that pitch was always secondary to his four-seam fastball, and opponents would crush the fastball at a nearly .480 clip. However, most Major League pitchers that you are going to face can't throw a sinker with 24 inches of drop and 15 inches of break at 96-97 mph. That speed and movement can almost be unhittable at times, with the opponent average on the pitch sitting at .243. Because he is more effectively using his power sinker, it also sets up his slider and his curveball, which are being hit at a .194 and .188 clip respectively. He has yet to throw his four-seam fastball this year, opting instead for his breaking stuff.

The results of his new approach are seen in how the ball is getting hit against him. Holmes has always had a groundball rate up near the 60% mark, but this year he is doing it at a career-high rate. Opponents are grounding out against Holmes 69.7% of the time this season, compared to a flyball rate of 9.6% and a line drive rate of 15.2%. The groundball rate is more than 20% higher than league average, and it has virtually eliminated the home run problem that plagued Holmes. In 2019, Holmes gave up a career-high five home runs in 50.0 innings. However, this season he has only allowed one home run in 23.1 innings of work. With that power sinker working, he is able to more efficiently work in the zone and is getting batters to swing over the ball rather than under it.

For Holmes to be able to continue this recent success he has been seeing, he needs to just keep dominating with that sinker. It has become a top pitch for him, used 45.5% of the time. At 28-years-old, Holmes still has a couple of good years left in him if he can officially figure this out. There is still a lot of season to go, and things could change the other way with a couple of bad outings. However, Holmes is showing no signs of trending in the wrong direction and has been a force in middle relief for the Pirates. We will never see Holmes return to the starting status that he once had with the Pirates, but middle relief seems to be the right role for him as he bridges the gap to the back-end of the bullpen.

The Pittsburgh Pirates (18-30) wrap up their three-game series with the Chicago Cubs (26-22) with a workman's special at 12:35 pm. Tyler Anderson (3-4, 4.73) looks for a big rebound for the Pirates as he faces Kyle Hendricks (4-4, 4.74) for the Cubs. You can watch the game live on AT&T Sportsnet or listen on 93.7 The Fan.