Mets reliever Clay Holmes suffered a broken right fibula after a 111.1 mph come-backer off Spencer Jones on Friday, sending him into a boot and knee scooter routine. The injury, which will likely sideline him until at least August, echoes a similar setback fro
Clay Holmes didn’t need the replay to feel it.
On Friday night, the Mets right-hander was struck on his right leg by a 111.1 mph come-backer from New York Yankees batter Spencer Jones. For a moment, his mind went straight back six years to Nelson Cruz—who hit him with a ball up the middle during a spring training game on Feb. 29, 2020.
Holmes said Sunday that he was hoping this time would be different. “I was kind of hoping this was different,” he recalled. “I still felt like I could put a little weight on it, so it kind of gave me some hope.”
He was able to push through five more batters in the fourth inning and two in the fifth before exiting the game.. When he tried to return to the mound, he said the leg didn’t feel the same.. “When I tried to run back out, I knew that it didn’t really feel the same,” Holmes said.. “It continued to get worse the more I threw.”
X-rays from Friday night confirmed the injury: Holmes has a broken right fibula.. The team expects the layoff to last until at least August.. Holmes acknowledged that even with the severity this time, the symptoms were not identical to 2020.. “The symptoms are definitely less this time.. I don’t know how much that means,” he said.. “There was definitely a little more pain and throbbing last time.”
By Sunday, his right foot was in a boot and he worked his way through the Mets’ Citi Field clubhouse on a knee scooter. He also reflected on how the initial moment changed his thinking as the game went on.
In the background of the injury, there was a personal callout from another familiar connection.. Jones—an offseason workout partner of Holmes in Nashville, Tennessee—reached out to him via text message.. Holmes said he appreciated it.. “I appreciated that,” he said.. “I just told him that this is a freak accident. nothing he can do. and I’m excited to see him finally get a chance up here and see what he can do here in the big leagues.”
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Holmes will need six to eight weeks for the leg to heal.. The plan calls for the 33-year-old to follow a spring training-type ramp-up, typically about six weeks.. Holmes, however, is aiming for a faster return timeline, hoping the bone will heal in four to six weeks.. He said the go-ahead to resume throwing will come after follow-up check-up images.
Holmes admitted sitting still isn’t easy for him.. “I have a tough time sitting still.. So patience is not a virtue for me, or not one of my best virtues,” he said.. “There’s creative ways to kind of help move this process along. ” adding. “The shorter time on the front. the less time you need on the back end.”
The physical parallel is hard to miss.. Holmes said the come-backer from Jones hit the right leg just above where Cruz’s earlier ball struck and broke his right fibula.. He said he had a sense of what he was dealing with as he left the field.. “I kind of knew walking off that I think it was probably broken so I was kind of expecting it.. I wasn’t too surprised with the X-rays,” Holmes said.. “It caught me good.”
Holmes arrives at this setback after a major career move.. A two-time All-Star reliever with the Yankees. he left to sign a $38 million. three-year deal with the Mets before the 2025 season.. He was shifted from the bullpen to the rotation and went 12-8 with a 3.53 ERA.. This year, Holmes is 4-4 with a 2.39 ERA.
He has dealt with long interruptions before.. Following the coronavirus shutdown in 2020, Holmes returned to the mound for Pittsburgh on July 22 in the Pirates’ spring training finale.. Two days later. he pitched 1 1/3 innings in the team’s opener. then missed the rest of the season with a strained right forearm.
Holmes described the challenge of that rehab cycle. “It was just so weird because I could only go into the facility for rehab like two days a week,” he said. “There was a lot of different variables, I was a reliever then, so the build up was a little bit differently.”
The pattern in Holmes’ story is unmistakable: after a hard hit on the right leg left him feeling as if he could still weight it briefly. he pushed through only limited batters before the sensation worsened. and X-rays then confirmed the same kind of fibula break he suffered after Cruz’s shot on Feb.. 29, 2020.
For now, the Mets have a clear healing timetable—six to eight weeks to heal and roughly six weeks of ramp-up—while Holmes works through a boot and knee scooter routine at Citi Field, hoping the bone heals in four to six weeks and he can get back to throwing sooner.
Clay Holmes Mets Yankees Spencer Jones Nelson Cruz broken fibula injury update Citi Field MLB news rotation