After a 6-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night, Buchholz moved into 2nd place in the AL in wins with 9 (behind David Price of the Rays who has 10). Buchholz has been consistently winning this year and pitching well nearly every time he toes the rubber, but has for the most part, flown under the radar. Sitting in a rotation with big names such as Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, John Lackey and Dice-K Matsuzaka may actually be part of the key to Buchholz’s success in 2010.
The one issue for Buchholz since his arrival on the major league scene in 2007 has been keeping his emotions in check and maintaining a strong mental toughness. His weakness has been an uncanny ability to collapse under pressure and once he gave up a hit or two, allow the inning to spiral out of control. The key to being a solid big-leaguer, is just the opposite, composure in all situations. Despite a few early season issues with composure, Buchholz has been able to control the damage against him in tough situations and as a result, has a 2.67 era.
The other main difference for Buchholz in 2010 has been the limited spotlight on him. After throwing his no-hitter in 2007, Buchholz has put together a few good outings in a row, but no real strong stretches of play until the end of last season and this year. The further away from his no-hitter, the better Buchholz gets because people aren’t focusing on that on infamous day in history. The media and fans alike came into 2010 talking about Beckett, Lackey, Lester and Dice-K, with Buchholz being a 4th or 5th starter and not a top of the line guy, which has allowed him to develop his pitches and contribute at his own pace.
When looking at the rotation’s numbers, it is obvious that Lester and Buchholz are the 2 best pitchers on the staff right now and Beckett (due to injury) and Lackey have been under-achieving. If you were to guess before 2010 that Buchholz would be at the top of the rotation past Beckett and Lackey come June, most people would have laughed at you, however his emergence hasn’t been a complete shocker. The Red Sox organization knew Buchholz would eventually be an ace in the majors, which is why they refused to trade him this off-season when his name rose to the surface in a few prospective deals.
No matter how you want to spin the situation, without Buchholz’s impressive numbers this season, the Sox would not be within 4 games of the Yanks and Rays for 1st place in the AL East. They needed someone to step up with the injuries to Beckett and Dice-K and Buchholz answered the call and is showing us all how good he can be in the future. He deserves to be an All-Star in 2010 and I hope for his sake he gets the nod to participate in July. At very least, he has been the Red Sox MVP to this point in 2010 and if he continues to pitch well, could be in the same spot come October.
There is always a proud parent moment when as a fan I see a young player begin to mature and reach his potential at the highest level. We all witnessed his coming out party, maybe to soon in his career, and we have all been waiting for Buchholz to push past the haze of the no-hitter and settle into a hopefully long and illustrious career. It’s cliche, but the sky is the limit for Clay.
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