With Chapman on way back, Holmes will need new role
It almost seems automatic right now. Clay Holmes came in Tuesday night and slammed the door against the Rays for his 10th career save. All 10 have come this season. The righthander has been so dominant and reliable it’s almost hard to remember he didn’t come into the season as the Yankees closer.
With Aroldis Chapman closing in on a return from the injured list, it will be interesting to see how the Yankees use Holmes when the closer returns. Before Chapman suffered the Achilles injury, Aaron Boone was quicker to use Holmes in the highest leverage moments against the toughest parts of the lineup.
And that may be the best way to use him going forward.
“I think a little of everything,” Boone said of Holmes’ role when Chapman returns. “Like [Tuesday] night I would have potentially used Holmes in the eighth inning. If it lined up correctly, it would have been the top of that lineup and I hadn’t used [Wandy] Peralta already for the middle. I was prepared to go Clay in the eighth.”
“So, he’ll be closing some games, too,” Boone continued. “Basically, he’s gonna find himself in a lot of the toughest parts of the lineup. So whether that’s the eighth inning, the ninth inning, we’ll just try and match him up as best we can.”
Holmes has been the Yankees’ most reliable reliever this season. He has not had a team score on him over the last 29 innings he pitched, nearing a franchise record set by Mariano Rivera (30.2 innings) back in 1999. In 28 appearances, 29.2 total innings pitched this season, Holmes has allowed one earned run for a 0.30 ERA and a 0.674 WHIP.
His sinker is heavy with “wiffle ball movement” that is similar to a left-hander and fastball velocity that sits 96.7 mph but can touch 100. It generates a ridiculous amount of harmless ground balls. His ground ball rate is an amazing 81.6% and his flyballs rate is an impressive 5%.
The Yankees knew he had talent when they acquired him from the Pirates last July. They made a few adjustments with his sinker, targeting it higher so that his misses wouldn’t be so outside the strike zone, cutting down on his walk rate. While his walks-per-nine innings was never less than three in four seasons with the Pirates, it’s never been more than 1.3 with the Yankees. It’s 0.9 right now, having walked just three of the 109 batters he’s faced. He’s struck out 31 for a career-high 28.4% strikeout rate. “I think he’s been beyond great to this point. Special run that he’s efficient, dominant ... however you want to describe it,” Boone said. “He’s in a really good place obviously, with tremendous stuff and going out there with a lot of confidence because of that stuff and the confidence in his game plan and his ability to execute. And it’s definitely been fun to watch him do his thing.”
DONALDSON’S BACK
Josh Donaldson was back in the lineup on Wednesday. The veteran infielder served a one-game suspension on Tuesday night for his “disrespectful comments” to White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson last month, which eventually resulted in a benches-clearing scrum.
Donaldson, who is hitting .235 with five homers and 18 RBI, was back at third base and hitting fifth for Wednesday night’s game against the Rays.
HICKS HITS
Aaron Hicks was back in the lineup Wednesday after sitting out Tuesday night’s game. The outfielder is starting to show some signs of getting back to form — particularly with his defense. His arm strength, after 2019 Tommy John surgery, is starting to show itself again.
“His throw in left field the other day in Minnesota was really encouraging,” Boone said. “We hadn’t seen that arm come back and to see him make that throw. There’s very few people making that throw. And that was reminiscent of Aaron. He had that awesome arm so it’s good to see that it’s in there. And hopefully, we continue to see more and more of that. As as he gets further removed [from the injury] and just continues to play.”