Clayton Holmes was selected in the ninth round of the amateur draft in 2011.
Holmes was 11-5 with 126 K in 89 IP as a junior and 6-2 with a 2.06 ERA and 84 K in 54 1/3 IP as a senior, with a fastball that reached 93 mph in high school.
Baseball America ranked him as the country’s #140 prospect, and he was drafted in the late fourth round. Due to a commitment to Auburn University, he was relegated to the ninth round.
The Pittsburgh Pirates selected him and signed him with a $1.2 million bonus right before the signing deadline. It easily broke Jason Middlebrook’s record of $750,000 set in 1996 for a 9th-round pick.
Darren Mazeroski was the scout. He made his professional debut with the State College Spikes in 2012, pitching five shutout innings against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers on June 22 to earn the win.
When Joe Musgrove went on the injured list, he was called up to the Pirates, and he made his main league debut with them early in the 2018 season (he had been the 26th man for a doubleheader in the first series of the year).
On April 6th, in his first game, he gave up one run in two innings of relief in a 14-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
Is Clay Holmes A Starting Pitcher?
Clay Holmes is a starting pitcher. Between 2018 and 2022, Clay Holmes threw 3,013 pitches that were tracked by the PITCHf/x system, including pitches thrown during the MLB Regular Season and Spring Training.