Clay Buchholz doesn’t try to out-stuff hitters anymore. He knows he can’t. But after shutting down the Los Angeles Angels over seven shutout innings of a 5-1 victory on Wednesday night, the Diamondbacks right-hander pointed to another possible reason for his unexpected resurgence this season.
“I pitch a little differently now,” he said. “I go more on what our catchers and our coaches see rather than how I feel. I try to pitch to hitters’ weaknesses a lot more than I used to. I used to rely solely on stuff.”
Buchholz said the scouting reports he receives from pitching strategist Dan Haren, coupled with his catchers’ ability to improvise within a game, are a couple of under-the-radar reasons why he’s been able to dominate over 80 innings this season with the Diamondbacks, for whom he has posted a sparkling 2.