Pittsburgh Pirates News: Team Re-Signs Clay Holmes

After non-tendering reliever Clay Holmes on Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Pirates have re-signed the right-handed reliever to a minor league deal.

On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Pirates tendered a contract to each of their arbitration eligible players except one. The one player they non-tendered was right-handed relief pitcher Clay Holmes.

It was not a shock to see Holmes non-tendered. This was due to a forearm issue limiting him to just one outing during the 2020 season. It is clear, however, that the Pittsburgh Pirates still believe Holmes can contribute out of a MLB bullpen.

When Holmes was non-tendered, Pirate general manager Ben Cherington expressed interest in bringing Holmes back on a minor league deal. That is exactly what happened as on Friday the the Pittsburgh Pirates and Holmes agreed to a minor league contract with an invite to spring training.

In his MLB career Holmes has pitched 77.2 innings in 47 games (4 starts) with the Pirates. Holmes has posted a 5.91 ERA, 5.06 FIP, 0.81 HR/9, 15.7% walk rate, and 20.8% strikeout rate in his MLB career.

Holmes has always had the stuff to be a quality MLB reliever, but has always struggled to find consistency. Especially consistency with his control. Pitching coach Oscar Marin and the Pirates appeared to have high hopes for Holmes entering 2020, and those hopes are still there with the team re-signing him.

It is easy to see why the Pirates, or any team, would have high hopes for Holmes. During the 2019 season Holmes ranked in the 72nd percentile of baseball in fastball velocity and in the 76th percentile in curveball spin rate. His curveball generated a healthy 43.7% whiff rate while his slider generated a whiff rate of 34.7%. His slider also had a strong spin rate of 2424. His fastball, curveball and slider all limited opposing batters to a slugging percentage of .376 or lower.

During the 2019 season Holmes limited opposing batters to a barrel rate of 5.1%, which was in the 84th percentile of baseball, this came after holding opposing batters to a 4.8% barrel rate the previous season.

If he is healthy, Holmes will enter spring training with a chance to win a job in the Pirate bullpen. Even if he fails to do so, he will be able to go to Triple-A Indianapolis to work on things and be able to contribute for the Pirates at some point during the 2021 season.