NewsRed Sox happy with Buchholz's progress
After rough '08, young righty bounces back with solid year
By Ian Browne / MLB.com
10/16/09 1:36 PM ET
BOSTON -- To consider how far he has come, remember the following: At this point last year, Clay Buchholz was pitching in the Arizona Fall League.Yes, the Red Sox, in desperate need to get Buchholz some sort of confidence going into the winter, had sent him out there in a pressure-free environment.
Then, there was this year, when Buchholz finished his season pitching in the pressure-cooker of Game 3 of the American League Division Series against the Angels, when his team needed a win to stave off elimination.
If not for an unlikely give-away by the normally stingy Boston bullpen, Buchholz would have gotten that win. He left with a 5-1 lead with nobody out in the sixth, though one of his inherited runners scored after his exit.
Still, Buchholz's postseason debut was very much a success, and symbolic of his 2009 season. And pitching on the October stage in such a high-stakes game is something that should be invaluable for Buchholz going forward.
"It's a good thing," said Buchholz. "I didn't feel as nervous in the second, third, fourth, fifth inning. It was a game I finally got to pitch in. I've been a part of this club for parts of three years and hadn't been able to make a postseason appearance. It was fun for me. Obviously not the outcome but being part of the process of the team getting into the seventh, eighth, ninth inning with a chance to win the game. I don't really have a word to describe it."
For all the things the Red Sox have to feel good about entering the offseason, Buchholz is at or near the top of the list. The 25-year-old Buchholz no longer has to be referred to as a prospect. He should be a cornerstone member of the rotation for the next several years.
"We've got a young pitcher who came up halfway through the season and wasn't just a good young pitcher -- he was a good pitcher," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "Now, it helped us win a lot of games. I know I said this numerous times because I believe it and I bet [general manager] Theo [Epstein] does too. Not only did it help us win games, but it helped make our organization a lot healthier. You can take young pitchers and kind of plug them into your future. And like we said, it makes the glass a lot fuller. It's exciting."
The Red Sox could make no such proclamations about Buchholz at this time a year ago. In 16 games for the 2008 Red Sox -- 15 of them starts -- Buchholz went 2-9 with a 6.75 ERA. This year, he also pitched 16 times for Boston, all of them starts, going 7-4 with a 4.21 ERA. And those numbers are slightly misleading because of a mishap over his last two regular-season starts, when Buchholz was shelled for 13 runs over eight innings.
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The 2008 slump of Buchholz was a big reason behind Epstein's acquisition of Brad Penny and John Smoltz. So even after a productive winter, when Buchholz had made numerous strides mentally and physically, and even after a brilliant Spring Training, there was no job for the right-hander. He spent the entire first half at Triple-A Pawtucket.
Buchholz can rest assured that he won't be caught in any similar kind of numbers crunch next spring.
"Unlike last year, he's someone we can sit here and pencil into our rotation for next year," said Epstein. "That's a good feeling. It's important as an organization not to give up on young pitchers when they're down, if they have the talent, ultimately, to succeed at the big league level. There were a lot of low points where he was someone who could have been given up on and traded at a low point in his value or [Francona] or [pitching coach] John [Farrell] could have said, 'we don't want this guy pitching in our rotation.'
"That didn't happen in this organization. A lot of people stepped up on a personal level to help impact Buck positively and ultimately, as always happens at the end of someone's development, he stepped up himself to decide he wanted to take responsibility for being the kind of pitcher he could be."
Like the rest of the Red Sox, Buchholz had clear disappointment about the postseason run being cut so short. At the same time, however, he had a little bounce in his step, knowing there was personal momentum to take into the winter.
"I'm more relaxed now," Buchholz said. "I feel like I did a little better job this year as far as being a little bit more consistent and showing these guys that this is where I feel I belong. It's going to feel good going into Spring Training knowing that I actually have a legitimate shot to be on this team instead of hoping and wanting. If I go off and do my work in the offseason like I should, I think the job is there for me."
Not only did Buchholz earn appreciation from his superiors, but also from his teammates.
"Clay obviously showed some people that he could do what everybody expected from him, finally getting that opportunity to come up this year," said Red Sox ace Josh Beckett. "He had some success. Just with the things he had to learn, it was really cool to watch that."
Now, when people talk about the Boston rotation, they mention a big three of Jon Lester, Beckett and Buchholz.
"It's what everybody wants," said Buchholz. "That's what you dream about when you're a kid. You want to part of a big league rotation. If you have those two guys' names, or even [Daisuke Matsuzaka] in front of you, you can't say anything about it. It's really a good feeling."
The stuff was always there for Buchholz, be it a mid-90s fastball and the strong curveball and changeup. What held up his development for a while was, as Beckett always refers to it as, "the process." Buchholz now understands that also.
"I think I matured a little bit as far as being a pitcher, being a baseball player," Buchholz said. "Knowing the ropes as far as the workouts. I maintained a whole lot better this year than I did last year and I think it's just a learning experience. You're a young kid coming up and being exposed to a lot of different things as far as being in this atmosphere and playing for the Red Sox. It's a different place if you don't know where you're going. This year I feel like I maintained it a little bit better and matured that much more just from the situation I was in earlier."
The righty fully expects the offseason to drag at times, but only because of his excitement to get back on the hill.
"I'm ready to go next year," Buchholz said. "Baseball players, that's all we have to look forward to is the season. You have the three months off in between. After the first two weeks, I think everyone starts foaming at the mouth a little bit to get back in the cleats and go back at it for Spring Training."
Ian Browne is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
