The New York Mets are out to show that they have been proper about Clay Holmes from the beginning.
Holmes, who will probably be coming into his first massive league season as a starter, was given the Opening Day nod by supervisor Carlos Mendoza on Friday.
With a projected payroll of $332 million for 2025, it is wild to suppose that the Mets don’t have any higher choice to begin their first sport of the season in opposition to the Houston Astros. Entrusting a profession reliever with 4 begins to his identify is kind of the leap of religion, but it surely’s additionally a testomony to the strong spring Holmes has had to date.
Furthermore, the Mets are fairly skinny at beginning pitcher after a rash of spring injuries, which maybe explains this determination extra.
Holmes has undoubtedly pitched effectively in a small pattern, demonstrating a flexible pitch arsenal that, whereas promising, remains to be in its early phases. However the outcomes do converse for themselves.
As proven above, Holmes works with a sinker, sweeper, changeup, cutter, four-seam fastball and slider. That is greater than most starters can say they’ve of their repertoire, even the very best ones. In fact, the effectiveness of every of those choices over a full slate of begins stays to be seen.
Nonetheless, the Mets’ strategy to constructing a beginning rotation with out a true ace will now be carefully examined from day one, as if there wasn’t sufficient strain already.
That technique did repay in 2024, as New York rode the backs of veteran starters Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana deep into October. Nevertheless, we’ll must see it succeed once more in 2025 to consider in what President of Baseball Operations David Stearns is constructing.
And all of it begins with Holmes taking the ball for the Mets in Houston on March 27.
