Just how good has Clay Bucholz been?

Bucholz has been fantastic so far.
Well, he's been good enough to be considered 2nd in the major leagues behind Annibal Sanchez in the Wins Above Replacement (WAR) category, which measures how valuable a pitcher has been to his team, according to the Herald. He also stacks up well against the best pitchers in the majors in just about every other statistical category. He has an ERA of 1.60, and 9.95 K's/9 innings, according to the Herald. Those numbers put him up there with Justin Verlander, Sanchez, and Yu Darvish, according to the Herald. Clay Bucholz has been huge this year, there's just no other way to put it. Even in his last outing, yesterday vs. the Jays, he was able to keep us in the game with 8 strong innings. We were able to erase the original 2-0 deficit, but we weren't able to capitalize and win the game. The difference is, in past games we were able to get enough offense to get Bucholz the victory. As a fan, it is frustrating to watch a pitcher pitch so well and not getting in any offensive zone. I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating: It's a long season. Yesterday was one game. But we have to battle through the rough times as a TEAM. That means we have to get our pitchers run support when he pitches the way Bucholz did yesterday.  But we also need to get back to firing on all cylinders - that's why we were so good to begin the year. That means offense, pitching, and defense.

I will say that Bucholz has been by far our best pitcher this season (but Jon Lester probably has the best single game performance). His stuff has just overpowering so far, and that's why he's been so good through the first month and a half of the season.

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Conor Frederick
Contributing Writer