Over the past eight years, the Red Sox’ greatest shortcoming has been their inability to develop starting pitching. Since Clay Buchholz’ debut on Aug. 17, 2007, 14 pitchers have made their first big league start for the Sox.
There’s still hope for lefties Eduardo Rodriguez, Henry Owens and Brian Johnson, but thus far, only Justin Masterson emerged as a long-lasting member of a rotation — and only after being traded to Cleveland. Meanwhile, Junichi Tazawa found success as a reliever.
Here’s a look at the results of Sox’ rookie starters since Buchholz’ arrival:
Pitcher Debut Starts ERA
Charlie Zink 2008 1 16.