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Clay Holmes rode a dominant sinker to his first All-Star Game selection last year.
That pitch has returned to form over the last month and a half, but the Yankees reliever has also unlocked another weapon: his slider.
The combination has allowed Holmes to post a 0.44 ERA over his last 20 games.
While Holmes’ sinker has been his bread and butter — and continues to be this season, holding opponents to a .231 batting average and .295 slugging percentage — he has increased the usage of his gyro slider while still mixing in a bigger sweeper.
Against the gyro slider, which has more vertical movement than the sweeper, opponents are batting just .130 with a .130 slugging percentage.
Holmes said he tried to tinker with the grip of the gyro slider this offseason in an attempt to make it more like a cutter and to throw it harder.
But it did not feel natural, so he scrapped it and went back to the gyro slider he had been using, which began to feel more comfortable.
“The [velocity] is still there — it’s still 88-89ish [mph], but it seems to have a lot more depth, which I’ve just kind of taken and ran with,” Holmes said Wednesday before the Yankees’ 4-2 win over the Mariners in which he did not pitch.
“It’s been pretty good to lefties and even to righties. I can still throw that pitch to righties and it shows them two different sliders.
