Verdict on the biggest NY Mets free agent gamble remains inconclusive

Okay, so we’ve had three Clay Holmes starts and some very different outcomes in them. Three starts can be enough to have an idea of where a player’s season is headed. It’s a little bit different with this New York Mets pitcher. Converted from a reliever to a starter, we need to look beyond earned run average, wins, and strikeouts.

Holmes’ start on Tuesday could be considered his best so far. He lasted a season-high 5.1 innings while striking out 10 batters. Allowing just 5 hits and walking 3, it was the lowest WHIP of any start this season in any start.

Was Holmes superb on Tuesday? For a stretch, he definitely was. Innings two, three, four, and five had him facing one over the minimum with a little help from Hayden Senger. Did we get to know anything more about how he’ll handle his role as a starter? Maybe a little bit, but not enough to make any bold declaration just yet.

Clay Holmes made his smoothest Mets start yet but it didn't give clear enough insight into who he is as a starter

A troublesome first inning didn’t end up in disaster for Holmes. A leadoff single later followed by back-to-back two out walks set up for a two-run single by Liam Hicks. Holmes just didn’t seem to have it in the first inning but bounced back quickly.

Despite the long first inning and reaching double digit strikeouts, Holmes threw 87 pitches which was right around where he was in his first two appearances. He got through the fifth inning this time around and even got an out in the sixth before Carlos Mendoza saw him run out of gas and a change was needed.

Length is something Holmes has yet to prove he can give the Mets. But in this start, going long enough to earn the win, we can come away looking at things a little more positively.

The second two runs charged to him scored on a Derek Hill home run surrendered by Huascar Brazoban with 2 outs in the sixth. The bulletproof Mets bullpen showed a rare blemish. Just one run charged to Brazoban with the other 4 in this game tallied against Holmes, it’s one of those moments where both pitchers were a part of the problem.

More efficient than he had been in his previous two starts, getting through six innings is going to be a challenge for Holmes. The season is young and it’s not unusual for managers to hold back their starters from working through another out or two. If the Mets had a slightly bigger lead at the time of his exit, maybe he could have remained in the game a little longer although it probably was best to remove him.

Holmes’ ERA jumped up to 4.30 on the season after this outing which is unfortunate considering how smooth he was for the meat of his appearance. One start against the Houston Astros and now two versus the Miami Marlins won’t tell us much about who he is as a starter. In particular, facing a Marlins team that should be near the bottom of the league in offense by the time we get to game 162 will do little to tell us about how effective he can be. Next scheduled to face the Minnesota Twins whose offense has been one of the worst in baseball this year, we may need to wait a little while longer before drawing any clear conclusions.