10 months agoNew York Yankees relief pitcher Clay Holmes had an up-and-down season last year, but enters 2024 as the clear favorite to close games for the Yankees. Overall, Holmes' final numbers were quite good. The hard-throwing righty converted 24-of-29 save chances, whiffed 71 batters, and pitched to a tidy 2.86 ERA across 63 innings. The issue for fantasy was the roller coaster ride Holmes took to get to those numbers. He was inconsistent and removed from the closer's role amid a putrid August that saw him allow nine earned runs in 10.1 innings (7.84 ERA). Aside from that stretch, however, Holmes was mostly effective as he allowed no more than four earned runs in any other month and found his form down the stretch, as he pitched to a 0.75 ERA with an .122 batting average against across 12 pristine innings to finish the season. Holmes certainly has the tools to be a top-flight closer as his 27.1% K-rate and 30.9% called-plus-swinging strike rate helped him average well over a strikeout-per-inning. If he can retain the closer job all season, Holmes should get plenty of save chances and has the ability to finish as a top-10 RP in fantasy. The inconsistency, however, is a concern and we've seen manager Aaron Boone pull Holmes from the closer role if he starts to struggle. Huge save and strikeout upside makes Holmes an intriguing, yet risky pick as the 17th reliever off draft boards, according to Fantasypros average draft position.--Mike Schwarzenbach - RotoBaller