Yankees pitching coach stands by 'unlucky' Clay Holmes
Clay Holmes and the Yankee bullpen is one of the main points of concern among the fanbase as the playoffs approach, as fans lament the absence of a “true” shutdown arm in the later innings.
While Holmes and his 10 blown saves this season have been a heavy point of criticism, Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake stood up for the team’s closer and 2024 All-Star in a conversation with The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner.
“Looking at the big picture of how Clay has performed relative to other closers in the league, he’s up there with some of the best in terms of how he’s performed,” Blake told Kirschner. “I know the blown save number is out there…I think too much is made of it just because of how much spotlight is on us in general. His style of pitching in the ninth inning lends itself to some of those higher BABIP-type outcomes
“I think he’s evolving in the role and adjusting to the league. I feel like he’s held his own. I know it’s noisy around us and him in general, but I think that’s all part of it.”
The higher BABIP numbers noted by Blake (Holmes is allowing a .338 batting average on balls in play, his worst mark since his first year in the league in 2018) is one of the major areas of concern among fans, who want to see more strikeouts like they have been used to in the past, when the Yanks had formidable swing-and-miss bullpens with the likes of Dellin Betances, Aroldis Chapman, and others. But Blake believes Holmes’ luck will turn around, and those balls in play will find gloves and generate crucial outs.
“He’s been unlucky,” Blake said. “Part of who he is leads him to be unlucky. I do think it is challenging to stay process-oriented in a job like this, but that’s our job. We can’t always fall into the results of things because, both good and bad, you’re going to make bad decisions when you do stuff like that.”
So, regardless of the noise (and there is plenty of it) around Holmes, Blake and the Yankees are sticking by their closer, his underlying metrics, and his track record of being a successful reliever, even if that is not up to fans’ Mariano Rivera-type standards.
“We feel good about how Clay is pitching,” Blake said. “It’s noisy, but he’s a successful closer in this league. I think it’s a little bit shortsighted to think otherwise.”
