With the exception of fantasy baseball, we evolved past the relevance of saves long ago. An inning is an inning, whether it’s the first, ninth, or fourteenth. Still, it means something that Clay Holmes earned his third and fourth saves of the 2022 season— and his entire career— in consecutive appearances on May 18 and May 21. He has ascended to the very top of the pecking order in the best bullpen in MLB, supplanting a potential future Hall of Famer.
When the Yankees acquired him from the Pirates for a pair of punchless minor league utility infielders— Diego Castillo and Hoy Park— they couldn’t have imagined his immediate metamorphosis into a right-handed version of peak-Orioles Zack Britton.