Inside The Mets

Surging hurler called Mets' X-factor before 2025 season

This starting pitcher could be the New York Mets' biggest difference maker, for better or worse.
Grant Young|
Feb 12, 2025; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; New York Mets pitcher Clay Holmes (35) pitches during a Spring Training workout at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Feb 12, 2025; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; New York Mets pitcher Clay Holmes (35) pitches during a Spring Training workout at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

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On March 9, New York Mets starting pitcher Clay Holmes threw 3.2 scoreless innings that included conceding just one hit and three walks while also striking out three.

This is yet another successful spring training outing for the former New York Yankees closer. In fact, Holmes has yet to allow a single run and recorded 13 strikeouts in 9.2 innings thrown over his three spring training starts.

The Mets' decision to sign Holmes to a three-year, $38 million deal this offseason and then turning him into a starting pitcher after not being used as a starter in MLB since 2018 raised many eyebrows around the league. However, this decision now seems ingenious; especially after Holmes' rotation mates Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas suffered injuries earlier in spring training.

And it's for this reason that Bleacher Report's Zachary D. Rymer deemed Holmes the Mets' "biggest X-factor" heading into the 2025 season in a March 9 article.

Read more: Has this 'wild' Mets offseason decision already backfired?

"Holmes as a starting pitcher is nothing if not a fun idea, and his expanded repertoire and sizzling spring training performance bode well for him pulling off the transition," Rymer wrote.

"Yet because of injuries to Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas and Kodai Senga's own injury history, a successful transition for Holmes is suddenly more necessity than luxury. Suffice it to say that if it does happen, the Mets need to immediately raise pitching coach Jeremy Hefner's salary so he stays happy."

After an excellent start to the 2024 campaign, Holmes' production diminished significantly in the season's second half. Even if Montas and Manaea are back healthy by the summer, New York can ill-afford something similar from Holmes this season.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Mets and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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