 On Monday afternoon, the Yankees announced the acquisition of right-handed reliever Clay Holmes from the Pirates in the trade, sending two minor league infielders back to Pittsburgh. Holmes spent his entire career up to now with the buckos after being a ninth-round selection in 2011 at a high school. Some of his underlying numbers are very good, including the best ground ball rate in the majors this season. Earlier today, he talked to Meredith for the first time as a Yankee. How surprised were you to learn that you were traded to the Yankees? It was a little surprising. Luckily, I had a couple of friends here that maybe said they had some interest. There was maybe the tiniest bit heads up, but when I got the call from Ben over with the Pirates, it was a little surprising just because I've been there so long and know so many people, but definitely when I found out it was the Yankees, I was excited and couldn't be happier to be here. How quickly did you reach out to guys like Jameson Tyone and Garrett Cole? It was pretty quick. Me and Jaymo got back pretty good when we did our Tommy John together. He was the first person I called and he faced Tommy back and we were just really excited. He's the guy that I have a lot of trust in as well as some of the guys here, so it's exciting to be here and especially nice to have a guy like him that can kind of help me ease the transition and make things go smoothly. Getting through Tommy John and that rehab process certainly isn't easy. How much easier did it make it that in 2014 you guys did it together basically at the same time? Definitely. As you go through that and have somebody like Jaymo to kind of walk through it together, it was great. It's an experience that can definitely make you stronger, but there are some times that you need somebody to kind of lean on. I think we do those guys for each other and I think we both come out stronger. How much did you guys keep in touch just this year prior to this trade or any even word of the trade? Yeah, probably weekly. We're good friends. We stay in touch. Like I said, we were both excited for me to be on board over here and I'm ready to help the team anywhere I can. I'm excited to take the ball and get some outs. Aaron Boone said that they believe that there is some untapped potential there that you had been throwing better than your ERA indicates. How much untapped potential do you think there is there? Yeah, I feel like I'm definitely training up. The sinker this year has been probably the best it's ever been as far as the consistency, the results I'm getting, the ground balls. And I think there's some similar areas where we found that we can attack hitters in certain ways to kind of make the sinker play even better. So I think I'm excited. Some things I'm learning and excited to just go out and to be myself and let my strengths play. What do you think has made that pitch better? I think just the consistency of the way my body is moving and also just understanding kind of my release point and kind of where that pitch plays the best. Just combining all those things and creating a simple approach that makes that pitch way more consistent and in the zone more. When that pitch is in the zone, it gets a lot of ground balls. I think as long as I'm attacking the zone and have that consistency with it, it plays no matter where I'm at. How much anticipation is there for you new team? Do you just want to get out there and get on the mound? Definitely. Everybody's looking forward to get past that first one. So I'm excited. Whenever that comes, I'll be ready and I'm looking forward to it. Okay, thanks for the time. Yeah, thanks, Meredith.