Red Sox’ third starter Clay Buchholz was one of a few Red Sox pitchers to get some work in on Wednesday, a scheduled off day for the team. In an attempt to get himself into shape before the season, Buchholz threw six “innings” in a Minor League game. The reason the word innings is in quotations is because after retiring the first three batters faced on five pitches he stayed on the mound to face three more, retiring those three on eight pitches. Minor League spring training games can be manipulated like this to accommodate teams needs.
After the first “inning” things weren’t as easy for Buchholz as he ended up allowing 6 hits (2 HR), 4ER, 1 BB and striking out 4 with a total of 89 pitches(59 strikes). After the game Buchholz said his plan was to work on his change-up.
Red Sox fans such as myself have plenty of reason to be encouraged by Clay Buchholz this spring. For a guy that missed a majority of the ’11 season, he looks to be working hard to make sure that he doesn’t repeat in ’12. If the Red Sox win the division, chances are its because Buchholz stays healthy and matches expectations. He’s possibly the most important factor on this team right now.
The other pitchers that were on the minor league fields yesterday were Aaron Cook, Andrew Bailey, Vicente Padilla, Rich Hill and Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Rich Hill and Dice-K, both coming off Tommy John surgery are said to be progressing ahead of schedule. Dice-K’s timetable is expected to be around June 1 and Rich Hill could start the season on a minor league rehab assignment. If they continue to progress ahead of schedule we could see both of them with the Red Sox in June.
Whether or not I’m excited to get Dice-K back is yet to be determined but I can say this, adding pitching depth to a team that had virtually none last season isn’t a bad thing. In Dice-K’s case I’m just not ready to say that it’s a good thing either. It’s one of those cases where I’m preying I’m wrong and hoping that he comes back and looks like the pitcher that went 18-3 with a 2.90 ERA in 2008 but I just don’t see it happening.
Rich Hill could be a solid contributor to the Red Sox though. In 2011, before he was injured he appeared in 9 games, pitched 8 innings and didn’t allow a run while giving up just 3 hits and 3 walks but striking out 12. His work came as a lefty specialist which the Red Sox could use with Andrew Miller and Franklin Morales‘ inconsistency. The only concern I have is him re-injuring his elbow with that quirky delivery that made him so effective against left handed hitters.
Even without a Major League spring training game for the Sox, it was a productive day for some important parts of the team. Slowly but surely the 2012 Red Sox are coming together. April 5th in Detroit, mark it on your calendars, it’s the start of a new page in Red Sox history and believe it or not we have a lot to be excited about.
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