Buchholz making his best pitch for success

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Was it really just a year ago that Clay Buchholz came to Spring Training in a battle for a rotation spot? It’s hard to imagine that could be true, given that the right-hander wound up finishing second to American League Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez in the ERA race last season. That, to go along with 17 wins and a spot on the All-Star team.

As Buchholz held court with a few reporters on Saturday morning, it was clear that pretty much everything had changed in his professional world over the last 12 months.

There are no more rotation battles. He is a lock, along with Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Buchholz’s goal for this season is to maintain the excellence he had and perhaps even get better.

“It feels good to have a full season under my belt knowing that I belong in this position, and the team has a little bit of confidence in me going into Spring Training,” Buchholz said. “The big thing is going into the season being healthy. I think that’s the big thing — feeling good throughout Spring Training, getting work done, and then expecting big things during the season.”

Listen to Buchholz talk about his 2010 season and it is apparent he wasn’t blown away by it. He knows there are still things he can do better. In fact, he knows he needs to be better if he’s going to get those same results.

“I was lucky sometimes,” said Buchholz. “A lot of times, there were balls that were hit hard that were right at people that could have scored a couple of runs in some big situations. I think I matured a little bit as far as in big situations, making one pitch and getting out of a jam. It was just something to build off of from the year before.”

That said, it gave him confidence.

“Last year was good, it was a good building block,” Buchholz said. “A lot of good things happened. The team played awesome behind me. You can’t always have that behind you. Errors are going to be made and you’re going to give up hits and home runs, but to keep it to a minimum like it went last year, it was awesome. As far as numbers go, I’m not going to expect anything. Just go out and try to make a pitch and go pitch by pitch, and just go from there.”

What Buchholz wants to do now is pull a Lester and make standout seasons the norm.

“It’s just fun to watch him pitch,” Buchholz said. “Everything is always under control. When he comes out of his delivery, the next pitch he fixes it. I think that’s the big thing for him. He has three or four plus pitches he can work with at any time in the count. He’s always trying to work and get better and that’s what you have to be a good pitcher in this game.”

Buchholz, after spending his first off-season as a father, is ready to get back to work.

“I took care of a little girl, it was fun,” Buchholz said. “After the first couple of months of the offseason I was definitely ready to get back and get to work and try to help this team win a championship.”

He knows that he doesn’t need to carry the rotation. The Red Sox have five starters who have all had success in the past, not to mention a sixth in reserve in Tim Wakefield who is close to 200 career wins.

“You know, on paper, it’s one of the best,” Buchholz said. “I think [Josh Beckett] coming in being healthy, being strong, Lackey coming in being healthy, being strong, Lester and Dice being here, too, I feel like I can take the backburner and just help these guys out and try to help this team win.”

For the first time in his Major League career, Buchholz will have a new pitching coach, as Curt Young replaces John Farrell.

“John Farrell was awesome,” Buchholz said. “He’s one of the big reasons why I had a lot of success last year. I finally got to talk to him and wasn’t afraid of him, because he’s such a stern person who was always talking business. Once I broke it down and had some time to talk to him, he was awesome. Just talking to Curt, he’s a different personality. He’s going to fit in really well with this clubhouse.”

As for Buchholz, he won’t have to be as results-oriented this spring as in years past. Now he can take on the role of an established pitcher trying to get ready for a season.

“That’s one of the things I talked to Lack about,” Buchholz said. “Spring Training for him was a process of a getting ready for the season. That’s how I think Spring Training should be labeled. I definitely want to come in ready to throw, but not particularly to be in midseason form at the beginning of Spring Training, because you’ll burn out during the season.”

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