Clay Buchholz (SP, BOS) - Waiver Wire Pickups

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OWED IN: 42% of Fleaflicker Leagues

ANALYSIS: It has never been a question whether or not Clay Buchholz has the talent to be one of the top pitchers in all of baseball. He still might not quite be there, but he should be owned in all fantasy leagues because of his talent and his first start. He absolutely destroyed the Phillies, with a 9:1 K:BB ratio and only 3 hits allowed over 7 dominant innings pitched. He had zero earned runs and over half his batted ball outs were on the ground.  This is reason enough to pick up Buchholz, but we'll delve into things a bit further.

Two seasons seem to stick out above all the rest for Buchholz's career. Those two seasons were 2010 (17-7 2.33 ERA) and 2013 (12-1 1.74 ERA). The rest of his career is an abyss of inconsistency in which he went a combined 38-36 with a 4.33 ERA. Things hit a wall for Buchholz as he endured a horrendous 2014 campaign with his highest ERA of his career at 5.34 and his highest WHIP for a full season at 1.39. On the flipside he sported his highest K total in one season with 132 and his lowest BB/9 rating with a 2.9 ratio. Something positive to build on right?

Clay Buchholz has demonstrated in the past that he has a filthy array of pitches he uses to get batters out. Using both a 2-seam and 4-seam fastball along with a cut fastball, straight cutter and a changeup, Buchholz challenges the hitter to recognize a wide set of pitches.

Having confidence as a pitcher is about as important as anything else that goes on in and around the game. Buchholz had lost that last year with the team struggling for most of the 2014 season. Boston is hoping that the future is now as they start young players such as Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts. They already had an impressive lineup to begin with and the pitching will be counted on to perform at a high level. Getting that confidence back, knowing that the run support will be there, should make life easier for Buchholz and the entire Boston pitching staff

Boston is going to be competitive this year and Buchholz is primed to have a bounceback campaign. High K totals, low BB totals with a strong offense behind him makes picking up Buchholz one of the easiest choices you will make in the early stages of your fantasy baseball season.