Shaking off injury rust, the veteran right-hander endured a rocky North Side debut. Despite the early struggles, his elite groundball rate suggests a perfect fit for Chicago's gold-glove infield.
Starting pitcher Clay Holmes made his Chicago Cubs debut on Saturday against the Kansas City Royals.
Holmes and outfielder Tyrone Taylor were acquired by the Cubs at Monday’s trade deadline in exchange for prospect Jefferson Rojas. Anytime an organization gives up a top-100 prospect for a player, that new trade acquisition is expected to perform.
Unfortunately, Holmes was roughed up in his first start with the North Siders. He allowed four runs on six hits with two walks and one strikeout across four innings and eventually left the game after 70 pitches.
The veteran right-hander never really got into a groove on the mound in this outing. He gave up a 448-foot towering home run to Jac Caglianone in the first inning, allowed three more base runners in the second inning, and allowed another three base runners in the third inning. The only relatively clean inning for Holmes was in the fourth inning when he faced the minimum in that frame.
This was obviously not a great outing for Holmes. He faced a lot of traffic on the base paths, his velocity was a bit down across the board, and he induced only four whiffs. Cubs fans expected more from him in his first start with the team.
However, there should be no panic surrounding Holmes following Saturday’s outing.
For starters, this was his first start in the majors since mid-May. Holmes fractured his fibula in a start against the New York Yankees on May 15 and spent multiple months recovering from that freak injury. After missing all that time due to that injury, there was always going to be some rust that the veteran had to shake off.
That rust was definitely there against the Royals. He left a sinker out over the plate on Caglianone's first-inning home run, and his overall stuff wasn’t as sharp as it usually is. That’s expected given the time away from injury.
Additionally, Holmes was the same groundball pitcher he has always been in Saturday’s outing. That’s a good sign that the Cubs right-hander will be just fine moving forward. He got nine out of his 12 outs via the groundball.
Being an extreme groundball pitcher should help Holmes be a consistent arm in this Cubs rotation the rest of the year. Chicago has the best infield in baseball with three former Gold Glove winners in Alex Bregman, Dansby Swanson, and Nico Hoerner. Even Michael Busch has a 69th percentile Fielding Run Value this season.
No one should be panicking after one start. Better days on the mound are certainly ahead for Holmes.
