Clay Holmes of Yankees Rode His Sinker to Stardom

BOSTON — Clay Holmes threw a sinker from the first time he ever played catch. He was seven years old, he guessed, and his fingers felt comfortable along the seams, not across them. In time, the two-seam grip would give his pitches downward, tailing action, and give him a professional career — if only he could keep it.

Holmes, the breakout star of this blissful Yankees season, took seven years to reach the majors with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who drafted him from an Alabama high school in 2011. Holmes struggled in the majors but resisted the temptation to change. He already had his separator.

“I had a lot of people saying to go with a short-arm action, to make so many big mechanical changes,” Holmes said at Fenway Park on Thursday, before stifling the Boston Red Sox to save another Yankees victory. “Ultimately I went against it, because I knew there was maybe a risk of losing my sinker. That’s when I really was like: ‘The sinker is going to be my ticket. I need to really figure out how to make it as good as it can be.’”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/09/sports/baseball/clay-holmes-yankees.html