While New York was dealing with close to 2 feet of snow, Mets pitchers Clay Holmes and Tobias Myers had to deal with the challenges of cool temperatures on the west coast of Florida during their outings on Monday in Dunedin against the Blue Jays.
“It was one of those days where it was a little chilly, it was dry, windy. Typically, these are the days [weather-wise] that are tough for sinkerballers,” Holmes said after dealing 3.2 innings in the Mets' win. “It was just good to get that experience and that challenge and to be back into the game action and figure out how to make pitches and see swings and feel the game speed.”
And that is what the early spring outings come down to: coming out feeling physically strong and tinkering with the adjustments to new and existing pitches they have been working on this offseason.
“This is the time to kinda still play around with some of the things, get reactions, kinda go to this pitch, that pitch,” Holmes said of experimenting with the pitch arsenal. “You’re always finding ways to get better and what you can tinker here and there before things really start to matter.”
Holmes said he entered the spring feeling strong after pitching 165.2 innings as a starter last year (after pitching 189.2 innings over the previous three seasons combined as a reliever), and is looking to avoid some of the issues he had in the second half of last season when his ERA went from 2.99 to 4.23.
“There were some stretches there, I feel like I could have been better. And I think being able to look back and learn from those moments will be big for this year,” he said, adding that it “wasn’t just one thing” during those spells when maybe the added innings caught up to him.
“Maybe the delivery wasn’t quite the same,” he said. “I think it boils down to: I gotta find a way to stay in the zone and attack hitters, especially the lefties. That’s what kinda hurt me at times.”
Holmes said that he’s been focusing on that aspect, and during Monday’s outing, when the conditions are tough for getting a good grip and his bread-and-butter sinker, the cutter “got me back into some good counts. Last year, I felt like it got me into worse counts.”
“To me, that was a big positive for today,” he continued. “And that goes to some of the stretches of the command’s not totally there, finding a way to stay in good counts.”
Manager Carlos Mendoza said it was “overall a good day of work for Holmes” and that the cutter stood out.
“The cutter was a pitch that is the one he’s working on the most this spring training, and I felt like he got back in counts with that pitch, especially against lefties,” the skipper said. “I thought the sweeper was good, and the fact that he got up to the fourth up at 60 pitches and was like, ‘Physically. ‘I can keep going.’ That’s a really good sign.”
Holmes said he changed the grip on his cutter, but the success of the pitch will come down to his comfort with it. “I think just having that pitch in the zone will help the other pitches,” he said.
Of course, not everything worked out so well. Holmes threw four curveballs, a pitch he last threw in a game in 2021. And while he did get one whiff on three swings, Kazuma Okamoto launched a 1-2 curve 431 feet to center for a two-run homer.
“It’s probably not something I’ll throw a ton to right-handed batters,” he said of the curveball. “Threw one today and got hurt on it, so it was a good learning experience.”
For Myers, coming off making 31 starts and 18 relief appearances over the past two years with Milwaukee, he said that while his destination of rotation or bullpen isn’t set, his build-up is the same.
“There’s some new pitches in there,” he said after pitching 2.1 scoreless innings against Toronto. “We’re definitely working on them. The slider I threw a lot today, you probably think it’s a curveball, pretty big. We’re trying to get that velo up on that a little bit. And the split, been throwing the split for half a season now, trying to fine-tune that pitch.”
Myers, who threw six splitters according to Statcast's tracking, said it is more of a split-change that he feels he can "execute a lot better” than the previous changeup he was throwing.
“If I can go out there and use it consistently, throw it whenever I want any count, righty, lefty, I think that opens up a lot of doors for me instead of just going up there and trying to rely on the fastball,” he said.
He credited Mets pitching coach Justin Willard for coming up with the “little baby spike” slider less than two weeks ago in the hopes of getting more swing-and-miss.
“If I can throw that pitch north of 82 mph, with the right metrics and everything,” he said, “I think that can definitely open up some doors for some swing-and-miss.”
What pitch do you want to come along first? “You hope it’s the fastball,” Myers said. “You hope the fastball kinda comes first and then you can just kinda work on things from there.
“For me, that’s always my main goal, especially in the offseason, the first couple bullpens: lotta fastballs, kinda get that location right."
Mendoza said the fastball has “got life.”
“Even though it was like 92 [mph] today, we know he can get to the mid-90’s. It’s just the life on the fastball, the change is always gonna be good, and we saw it today,” the skipper said before speaking complimentarily of the rest of the right-hander’s pitches. “And I like that cutter/slider that he’s got going for him now. It’s a pitch that he’s going to need, and he’s working on that one, and I thought he threw some good ones today.”
Myers, who was glad to get in three ups after going for two in his past two live outings this spring, says coming out feeling good is still the most important part of this time of year.
“Body feels good, body’s healthy, I think that’s the only thing looking for this time, just check that box off and keep building up,” he said.
Myers said that while he doesn’t know his role, how he deploys his pitches won’t change either.
“The usage might change a little bit, but I think that’s gonna come from the staff and the catchers and reading hitters, reading swings,” he said. “Visually, watching the game, I think hitters come out a little bit more aggressive when they get a bullpen arm in there. So that might change [it] a little bit. But as far as pitches, no, everything will kinda be the same.”
