Some people might say the seventh week of the season is too early to pinpoint a Cy Young Award winner, but with a start like Boston Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz is having, it’s hard not to give it some thought.  Through nine starts so far this season, Buchholz is 6-0 with a miniscule 1.78 earned run average.  His six wins are second in the American League behind Tampa Bay’s Matt Moore and Texas’ Yu Darvish, while his ERA is second only to the 1.53 mark set by Seattle’s Felix Hernandez.  He leads the league in wins above replacement and is second in strikeouts with 69. 

A pitcher that can keep his team in the game, even when he doesn’t earn a decision is great to have in the rotation.  That’s exactly what Buchholz has done.  The Red Sox have won eight out of nine games that he has started and the only loss was by one run.  Buchholz has been the work horse that manager John Farrell hoped he would be this season, having thrown at least 100 pitches in eight of his nine starts.  Furthermore, he has gone at least seven innings in eight of his nine starts, which is a huge factor in keeping the team’s bullpen rested and fresh. 

Despite his success so far, Buchholz has been at the center of a cheating accusation stemming from a game in Toronto.  He was accused of wearing sunscreen on his forearm and using it to alter the flight of the ball.  Baseball players wearing sunscreen is pretty ordinary I’d say, but players wearing sunscreen in the Rogers Centre (an indoor stadium) could raise some suspicion. 

Buchholz vehemently denied any cheating accusations, but since the controversy, his numbers have been on a slight downtrend.  In his first six starts (the sixth behind the game in question), Buchholz only allowed five total earned runs.  In the three games that have followed, he’s given up eight earned runs and hasn’t earned a decision.  It seems to me all the swirling accusations may have gotten in his head just a bit.  I wouldn’t read too much into it though.  Buchholz is a professional and should have the mental toughness to get through it.

Buchholz is a complete pitcher with the tools and talent to sustain this kind of success all year.  It also helps that his offense is giving him an average of 5.2 runs per game in his starts.  I think he will be able to put the cheating accusations behind him and continue to pitch a Cy Young Award caliber season.  Some other candidates for the award to look out for include his teammate Jon Lester, Felix Hernandez, Chris Sale, Matt Moore, and Yu Darvish.