Yesterday, I wrote a piece on Clay Buchholz’s turnaround for the mothership, ESPN’s SweetSpot blog.
Below is an excerpt from the piece. Follow the link at the end to read the rest of the article!
One of the hottest pitchers the last couple of months has been Boston Red Sox right-hander Clay Buchholz, who has engineered a startling turnaround from earlier in the season, where he appeared to be one more bad start away from a demotion.
Ever since debuting in the majors and twirling a no-hitter against the Orioles in his second career start in 2007, he’s been considered one of the better young pitchers in the game. Unfortunately for Buchholz, that instant success didn’t help him avoid the injuries and inconsistency that has plagued his career since. There’s no denying his talent when he’s right, however, and that’s the very reason Boston inked him to a four-year contract extension in 2011.
The first year of that extension didn’t start off well, as he began 2012 with a brutal 7.19 ERA in his first 10 starts. Despite being interrupted by inflammation of the esophagus that landed him on the disabled list for close to a month, Buchholz hasn’t been the same pitcher since the beginning of June, posting a pristine 2.16 ERA in 11 starts. But what changed? How did Buchholz suddenly go from one of the worst pitchers in the game to one of the best?
The answer is fairly complicated, but there are two partial explanations that jump out after looking at the data. The first is that Buchholz rediscovered the effectiveness of his changeup by virtue of throwing a split-fingered fastball, and the other explanation is pure dumb luck. (Read more)