PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Clay Holmes’ first start in more than seven seasons will be on Opening Day.
On Friday, manager Carlos Mendoza named Holmes the Mets’ starter for their season opener on March 27 in Houston.
“He earned it,” Mendoza said. “We like what we’re seeing. He really put himself in a really good position, showed up here early in camp, he was ahead of everyone.”
Holmes has made all of four big-league starts, all of them as a rookie with the Pirates in 2018. He shifted to the bullpen in 2019 with Pittsburgh, eventually flourishing into an All-Star closer with the Yankees. He’s made an even 300 relief appearances since his last start.
The Mets signed Holmes to a three-year, $38 million contract in the winter, intrigued by the idea of him as a starter. Traditionally a sinker/sweeper reliever, Holmes has added a changeup, four-seam fastball and cutter to his repertoire since late last season.
In an ideal spring, the Opening Day nod likely would have gone to Sean Manaea, who emerged as the Mets’ ace last season and was re-signed over the winter. Manaea, however, will start the season on the injured list with a right oblique strain. Fellow starter Frankie Montas is also on the shelf with a high-grade lat strain that will likely cost him the first two months of the regular season.
“We’re going to need people to step up, and (Holmes) is doing that now,” Mendoza said. “I’m proud of him.”
And Mendoza said that Kodai Senga, who was New York’s best pitcher in 2023 before missing most of last season, will not be ready to start on Opening Day. Senga is expected to make a start in the first turn of the Mets’ rotation.
New York hasn’t set its rotation behind Holmes yet, and it’s still trying to decide whether to roll with a five- or six-man rotation at the very start of the season, thanks to some extra off-days. Lefty David Peterson and righties Griffin Canning, Tylor Megill and Paul Blackburn are all in the mix to be part of the rotation. The Mets had previously suggested they might hold Peterson out of the opening series because the Astros have such a righty-heavy lineup.
(Photo: Sam Navarro / Imagn Images)
