Clay Holmes was turning a corner last year with the Pirates. Sure, 2018-19 was less than ideal and the rough outings in 2021 were rough. But most of the time -- 33 of 44 appearances -- Holmes ended his outing with a zero in the run column. That's all you can ask of any relief pitcher.
But as the Pirates were once again sellers at the trade deadline, Ben Cherington pulled the trigger on a trade that sent Holmes to the Yankees on July 26 in exchange for Diego Castillo and Hoy Park to add middle infield depth to the organization.
Holmes built on a solid start to the 2021 season in Pittsburgh, posting a 1.73 ERA and 0.85 WHIP in 23 outings with the Yankees after the trade. He continued to focus on limiting walks and leaned heavily on the sinker-slider combination, which got better as the year went on.
"I think some things were starting to come together throughout last year," Holmes said. "I put together some decent stretches when I was here. I think the timing was pretty good from my aspect. I started to really put together some things I knew that would work. Just hearing the affirmation of that with the staff of the Yankees and what they were seeing and what we wanted to do. I started maybe building a little bit more confidence. I just really felt myself getting ahead of hitters, especially righties. The walks started to disappear. I think that's really a big part of the success."
With the Yankees in town for a quick two-game series, the Pirates are getting their first look at Holmes since the trade, and he has morphed into the best relief pitcher in baseball. For an encore to his successful debut in pinstripes, Holmes has overwhelmed hitters with a ridiculous 0.49 ERA and 0.73 WHIP in 36 outings this season, which includes a scoreless streak that lasted 31 1/3 innings from April 9 through June 18.
Holmes has also stepped up as the Yankees' closer in place of Aroldis Chapman, who spent over a month on the injured list, and has recorded 15 saves. He discussed his return to Pittsburgh and his 2022 success with us prior to Tuesday night's game:
"It's been pretty special," Gerrit Cole said of Holmes prior to Tuesday's game. "I honestly don't think he's getting enough credit. He's really worked hard at his craft. And certainly the numbers and the market that we're in puts a spotlight on his performance right now, but just him progressing since the first time we shared a room together at Pirate City was a lot of perseverance."
While there have been multiple pitchers that have left Pittsburgh and found resounding success elsewhere, Holmes doesn't compare to the likes of Charlie Morton or Tyler Glasnow. Sure, Holmes didn't put up video game numbers in a Pirates uniform, but he began to unlock the secrets needed to become a successful big-league pitcher.
On the whole, Cole -- who also took his game to another level after leaving -- doesn't buy into the notion that pitchers such as Holmes or him didn't do good things in Pittsburgh. Rather, the groundwork to be able to do something great was laid with the Pirates.
"I'm not real interested in getting into the back and forth about immediate success of guys as they left, because people were working really hard, we were working really hard to be the best we can be, and I don't want to take away from that," Cole said.
"We were good players here, and we were good players when we left. I think the most common theme is we've had a lot of good players come through here and a lot of the experiences that we had, some that the organization taught us -- some that we disliked, some that we liked -- obviously shaped us to have successful, long careers and have processes that allowed us to flourish not only here, but somewhere else as well. There's probably some credit due there as well."
Holmes is enjoying a lot of success this season. And this week, he's enjoying a return to the North Shore.
"It brought up a lot of memories. The debut here, the few seasons I had here, what this place means and the people that are attached to it, it'll always be a special place because of that."
