https://triblive.com/sports/derek-shelton-acknowledges-where-pirates-failed-to-get-the-most-out-of-clay-holmes/
Derek Shelton acknowledges where Pirates failed to get the most out of Clay Holmes
The Pittsburgh Pirates did a lot right in their 5-2 win against the New York Yankees on Tuesday night.
• They got out to an early lead against former Pirate Jameson Taillon with a second-inning home run by Daniel Vogelbach. Then they added on with three more in the fourth inning, featuring a homer from Jack Suwinski. Both were on full counts.
Return of the Bach pic.twitter.com/hAxdVVr70h— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 5, 2022
Let's go baby!! pic.twitter.com/Mus3oo1pIF
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 6, 2022
• They held the Yankees to just 2-of-9 hitting with runners in scoring position, stranding nine Yankees on base. One of those big outs was Wil Crowe getting All-Star slugger Aaron Judge to ground into a double play in the seventh inning. Then David Bednar ended the game by striking out Judge with a runner on base.
• Bryan Reynolds made a great diving catch in center field in the third.
Robbed by Reynolds. pic.twitter.com/uIBewwLPqC— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 6, 2022
• They didn’t give New York much free help, yielding just two walks and committing no errors.
And perhaps most importantly, the Pirates played with the lead and held onto it. So former Pirates relief pitcher Clay Holmes didn’t enter the game.
Think about that. Avoiding Clay Holmes has to be a priority. Who woulda thunk?
I was bemused by the recent quotes coming from various Pirates regarding Holmes’ sudden success with the Yankees.
He’s been a huge part of New York’s Major League-leading 58-23 record. The right-hander is 4-0 with a 0.49 ERA and a 0.73 WHIP. He has 15 saves in 16 tries this season. He had been a stud set-up man for Aroldis Chapman earlier in the season and may have supplanted him as the closer moving forward. Holmes should be one of many players representing the Yankees at the MLB All-Star Game later this month.
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That’s a long way from Holmes’ 5-7 record and 5.57 ERA he posted during his four seasons in Pittsburgh. That’s to say nothing of his control. Holmes’ strikeout-to-walk ratio is currently 38:5. In Pittsburgh, he averaged 6.3 walks per nine innings.
I’ve been blindsided by Holmes’ turnaround. But, apparently, I shouldn’t have been. Based on what his former Pirates teammates told TribLIVE’s Kevin Gorman recently, we all should’ve seen it coming. Consider these recent quotes from his July 4 post.
Pitcher Mitch Keller: “Everyone knew that it was in there so there really wasn’t too much to talk about. We knew it was going to happen.”
Pitcher Chris Stratton: “I don’t think anybody here is surprised at the results he’s getting because his stuff was electric. There’s no secret to what he’s doing, either. He’s being simple with it. His stuff’s just that good.”
Well, somebody in the organization — namely general manager Ben Cherington and manager Derek Shelton — should be surprised. Because Holmes was never that much of a plus-player when he was here. And, if he was, they could’ve gotten more for him than they did in Diego Castillo and Hoy Park.
Apparently, the biggest reason for Holmes’ turnaround is his reliance on a two-pitch approach — an improving slider and a sinker that is fast becoming the stuff of legend.
Clay Holmes, Insane Sinker Movement. pic.twitter.com/LN6v2aEXtK— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 23, 2022
Clay Holmes, Crazy 98mph Sinker Movement (isolated) pic.twitter.com/Pc2lBFlYPK
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 23, 2022
According to Baseball Savant, Holmes is throwing that sinker 81.2% of the time and the slider 18.2% of the time. During 2020, Holmes’ last full season in Pittsburgh, he relied on a curveball 59.1% of the time, using the sinker just 31.8% of the time and a slider for only 9.1% of his pitches.
Why weren’t Cherington, his scouting staff, Shelton or pitching coach Oscar Marin able to identify or hone Holmes’ sinker so it could be used as the weapon it has become in New York? To say nothing of the previous regime who drafted and developed Holmes in the first place.
“The usage and what they’re doing, and that’s where the self-reflection comes in of maybe we didn’t use his weapons the way we should have,” Shelton said on 93.7 The Fan Tuesday afternoon. “We have to make sure that we go back and look when guys go other places and people make adjustments to what those adjustments are, why they made those adjustments and then reflect on what our process was in terms of the conversations about the adjustment or the adjustments we didn’t make.”
At least Shelton’s got that part right. It’s not just how often Holmes is using the sinker, it’s where he’s throwing it and where he’s standing on the mound. According to Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News, Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake noticed when Holmes was missing with the sinker, he was missing with it low and inside.
“They encouraged him to target a little higher with the sinker,” Ackert said when she joined me on 105.9 The X Tuesday. “Miss a little bit higher. Then you are in the strike zone. The life on the ball will take it down itself. They’ve moved him a little bit away from the hitter as well.”
Are those adjustments so advanced the Pirates staff couldn’t have noticed them themselves?
This isn’t me using 20-20 hindsight. I’m not saying the Pirates should’ve kept Holmes. I get why they gave up on him. Same thing with Tyler Glasnow before he blossomed in Tampa Bay. Or before Charlie Morton rediscovered himself after he went to Houston.
But it’s also not my job to identify the granular nuances to unlock the talent on the Pirates roster. That’s what the baseball staff gets paid to do.
Pirates ownership doesn’t pay out the kind of money to buy obvious talent like the Yankees have. So the coaches and scouts have to make the most out of what they are given.
That’s something that did happen Tuesday night. Something that clearly didn’t happen with Holmes before he was traded.
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