Clay Holmes delivered his best start yet with the Cubs on Friday, showing exactly why his arsenal and pitching style could make him a perfect fit for Chicago down the stretch.
It only took two starts for the Chicago Cubs to get the best version of Clay Holmes following the MLB trade deadline.
On August 3, the Cubs parted with top-100 prospect Jefferson Rojas in a deal with the New York Mets to bring in Holmes and outfielder Tyrone Taylor, filling two of the organization's biggest needs.
On August 8, Holmes was activated from the 60-day IL and made his first start in a Cubs uniform against the Kansas City Royals. He did four innings of four-run ball and ultimately took the loss in a 6-3 defeat in Kansas City. But it wasn't unexpected that Holmes would still be a work in progress in his first start since May 15.
On Friday afternoon, though, Holmes made his second start with the Chicago Cubs and his first start in front of the Wrigley Field crowd, and he was even better than advertised. Holmes did 6.2 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk to the St. Louis Cardinals while recording three strikeouts. He threw 80 pitches, departed with a 3-0 lead, and earned the win.
Holmes induced 11 groundouts in his Wrigley Field debut, recording eight of them while using his sinker.
You put the ball on the ground with this Cubs infield defense, and you're gonna be pretty happy with the results. Holmes also became the seventh player in Cubs history to pitch six-plus innings, allow one or fewer hits, and zero runs in his home debut with the team.
“It was great. That’s what you imagine, what you hope for when you put on a Cubs jersey,” said Holmes of his Cubs home debut. “It’s special. It’s iconic. To do it with this team and these guys that have been just so great at welcoming me in was a lot of fun.”
Holmes is already a natural fit with this Cubs team and is quickly becoming beloved by the fan base. If he continues to throw this way, the Cubs won't miss Jefferson Rojas one bit.
It may even be worth exploring an opportunity to extend Clay Holmes and bring him back to the Cubs next season. He'll turn 34 in March, but there's likely more longevity in his arm due to the fact that he started his career as a relief pitcher. Holmes has just 566.1 career MLB innings under his belt.
Shota Imanaga, Kevin Gausman, David Peterson, Matthew Boyd, and Holmes are all coming up on free agency. Boyd has a mutual option that is unlikely to be exercised, and Holmes has a $12.6 million player option that he'll probably decline with how well he's pitched this season.
That gives the Cubs plenty to solve as far as the starting rotation is concerned moving forward. But we saw on Friday night why Holmes is a good cultural and on-field fit.
When he's at his best, his arsenal fits the Cubs' style of play really well. That's a big reason why Cubs fans can have confidence in him as we head toward the postseason. As things stand right now, Holmes probably gets the ball for the Cubs in Game 2 of a playoff series.
So while Jefferson Rojas has looked good in Double-A with the Mets since the trade, Chicago seems to have the front-of-the-rotation starting pitcher they coveted. If he keeps pitching like he did on Friday, the Clay Holmes trade will be well worth it.
