September 3, 2010
Buchholz is one of baseball's best
by Ian Browne/
Boston's Clay Buchholz has become one of Major League Baseball's top pitchers. (photo: Getty Images)
When Clay Buchholz first set foot in the American League All-Star clubhouse in Anaheim, Calif., in July, he practically searched for his guest pass. In one corner of the room was Mariano Rivera, perhaps the greatest closer of all-time. He’d take a glance elsewhere and spot Cliff Lee, a World Series hero. There was Justin Verlander, the flame-thrower from the Tigers. Andy Pettitte? His body of work spoke for itself, and it was a loud sound to Buchholz.
“I still actually felt out of place being there with the guys who have been there as many years as they have been,” said Buchholz. “It was an awesome experience. Hopefully whenever, if it does ever happen again, I feel like I actually belong there and this wasn’t a fluke.”
There wasn’t anything fluky about Buchholz’ ascension from bubble candidate for the Red Sox rotation in spring training to A.L. All-Star by July. It has been years in the making. The stuff? That was always there. And Buchholz broke out all of it in just his second major-league start, firing a no-hitter against the Orioles.
For a while though, that no-no did more harm than good, as the expectations went through the roof and Buchholz failed miserably to live up to them in the confidence-destroying disaster that was 2008.
Opportunity was the problem for Buchholz for the first half of 2009. He had let his team down so dramatically the following year that Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein felt he needed a couple of battle-tested veterans (Brad Penny and John Smoltz) to fill spots that would have belonged to Buchholz.
It wasn’t until Tim Wakefield went down with a back injury just after the 2009 All-Star break that Buchholz had a chance to re-establish his worth. And ever since that first start back with the Sox – a win at Toronto – he has proved it time and again.
Down the stretch of 2010, Buchholz wasn’t only one of the best pitchers on his team. He was regarded as one of the elite starting pitchers in baseball.
As of mid-August, he had been among the top three leaders in ERA just about all season long. And at 26, the expectation is that his ceiling might be another year or two away. Buchholz has grown up over the last couple of years. He got married over the winter and on Aug. 4, he became a father of a baby girl.
“Just the whole experience was really, really awesome,” said Buchholz.
And the Red Sox could say the exact same thing about their wiry right-hander, who displays three pitches (fastball, curve, changeup) capable of perplexing opponents in any count. Buchholz is now proving why his name was always the one that seemed to come up in trade rumors. Why wouldn’t someone want to acquire a young pitcher with so much in his arsenal? Even more, he’s proven why Epstein never felt comfortable about including him in a trade package. The Red Sox drafted and developed Buchholz and stuck with him when he struggled. And now, they are basking in the glow of his rise to stardom.
“We’re thrilled,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “He’s all the things you hope with young pitchers and then you see it happening. It’s very exciting.”
There was a stage in Buchholz’s development when he could lose his composure the moment adversity struck. That even happened during certain starts in 2009. The opponent would get a couple of runners on, the park would start to get loud and Buchholz would start to get unnerved. But that stopped happening this season.
“Yeah, on the fly, instead of in between innings,” Buchholz said of his newfound ability to make adjustments. “I used to have to ask [pitching coach] John [Farrell] if I was doing something on a particular pitch that got hit or whatever. Now, on my own, I’m able to not overthrow a pitch and just stay through it and just do some little things a little bit different than I did in the past.”
His mind seemed to get as strong as his right arm.
“You can go out there and stop concentrating for five minutes, and there will be five runs on the board,” Buchholz said. “The mental part, I think it’s a huge part of this game. In any category, hitting, pitching, defense. You have to know what you need to do before anything happens.”
The only thing that could derail Buchholz in 2010 was a hamstring injury sustained not by pitching, but running the bases. It was an inter-league game against the Giants in San Francisco and Buchholz, just moments after belting his first major-league hit, strained his hamstring running from first to second on a grounder. That injury occurred on June 26, leaving him on the shelf for the All-Star Game. He was reduced to a spectator during the Midsummer Classic, but by not having to pitch, Buchholz was actually able to soak in the festivities a little more.
He returned to the Red Sox shortly after the All-Star break and after one rusty outing, immediately got locked in again.
While prolonged injuries mounted to countless key players on the Red Sox, Buchholz kept chugging along, giving his team a chance to win just about every game he pitched.
“Obviously going into the season, you want to do as good as you can every time out and help the team in any way you can,” Buchholz said. “As a starting pitcher, it’s important to go out and throw innings and get outs and get the team back in the dugout and let them score some runs. I try not to over-think anything and just go out there and do those little things. It’s been a lot more consistent.”
The opponent didn’t seem to matter. Strong, weak or somewhere in the middle, Buchholz mowed through them. When the Red Sox went to New York to start a key four-game series in August, Buchholz opened things up with a win. After that contest, David Ortiz was asked how impressive it was to see Buchholz pitch like that against such a power-packed lineup.“That’s every night he pitches,” said Ortiz.
Coincidence or not, Buchholz started to blossom as a pitcher when Victor Martinez became his regular batterymate last August. They formed an instant connection, leaving Martinez less surprised than anyone when the right-hander raised his game about three notches this season.
“It’s pretty impressive the way he’s matured,” Martinez said. “He’s just gotten more innings under his belt and he’s gotten more and more comfortable on the mound. It doesn’t really surprise me. He’s been huge for us.”
Buchholz is getting to that stage of the game where the big games are the ones he craves.
And really, is there any other kind in Boston?
“Experience is going to help anybody,” said Buchholz. “Being part of the homegrown guys who were drafted by the Red Sox and still being young and being able to come up here and help this team win and hopefully get to October is great. Once you get to that point, anything can happen.”
