Players · B · Pitcher · 2019

Clay Buchholz

Age: 35
B/T: L/R
Height: 6' 3"
Weight: 190 lb
Number: #11

Born: August 14, 1984 in Nederland, TX, United States
MLB debut: August 17, 2007

dbWAR: 5.1
IP: 59.0
ERA: 6.56
FIP: 5.62
K/9: 5.9
FIP−: 125

Clay Buchholz was a starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2019 he struck out 39 batters over 59.0 innings across 12 appearances, 12 of them starts, going 2-5. His ERA of 6.56 was 45.6% higher than the league average of 4.51 — the second worst on his team, and 489th of 545 among MLB pitchers with 20+ innings. Stripping out defence, his 5.62 FIP suggests he pitched better than his ERA shows. He missed bats on 20.6% of swings (9.8% of every pitch he threw), walked 6.3% of the batters he faced and struck out 15.4%. His 0.0 dbWAR is built from that FIP rather than runs allowed, so it credits him for what he controls and not for the defence behind him.

League context

Percentile among qualified pitchers, 2019.

FIP5.62

K/95.9

WHIP1.49

WAR.0

WAR by season

Pitching

Standard and advanced, by season.


2019	TOR	12	12	59.0	2	5	72	43	39	16	6.56	5.62	1.49	5.9	2.4	146	125	0.0
2018	AZ	17	16	98.1	7	2	80	22	81	22	2.01	3.47	1.04	7.4	2.0	49	84	2.0
2017	PHI	2	2	7.1	0	1	16	10	5	3	12.27	4.79	2.59	6.1	3.7	282	110	0.1
2016	BOS	37	21	139.1	8	10	130	74	93	55	4.78	5.06	1.33	6.0	3.6	114	121	0.1
2015	BOS	18	18	113.1	7	7	114	41	107	23	3.26	2.67	1.21	8.5	1.8	82	68	3.2

Batting

Standard and advanced, by season.


2018	AZ	15	37	2	1	1	17	.065	.094	.097	.032	.143	2.7%	45.9%	.089	-6.8	-57	-0.1
2017	PHI	1	2	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	—	0.0%	100.0%	.000	-0.5	-119	-0.0
2016	BOS	1	3	0	0	1	2	.000	.333	.000	.000	—	33.3%	66.7%	.232	-0.2	38	0.0
2015	BOS	2	6	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	.000	0.0%	33.3%	.000	-1.5	-117	-0.1

Platoon splits

How left- and right-handed hitters fare against him.

Season

Opponent batting by the side the hitter bats from, 2019. Counted from play-by-play, so totals can differ from the box-score season line by a plate appearance or two.
Split	PA	AB	H	HR	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	K%
vs LHB	139	129	40	8	8	23	.310	.355	.574	.387	16.5%
vs RHB	115	106	32	5	8	16	.302	.348	.557	.372	13.9%

Pitch sequencing

What Clay Buchholz throws in each count, and what he follows each pitch with. Select any cell for the breakdown.

ShowBatter

CutterSinkerChangeupCurveballFour-seam

Select a count to see exactly what Clay Buchholz throws in it.

Pitch arsenal

What he throws, how hard, how often it misses, and what hitters do with it.

Season


Cutter	28.2%	272	84.4	2,272	49.3%	24.3%	68	.324	.943
Sinker	20.1%	194	89.2	2,120	40.2%	10.9%	54	.389	1.153
Changeup	19.7%	190	76.6	1,538	41.1%	24.5%	53	.208	.710
Curveball	17.4%	168	75.1	2,707	43.5%	17.2%	34	.324	.793
Four-Seam Fastball	14.4%	139	89.7	2,148	52.5%	24.0%	27	.259	.915

Clay Buchholz's arsenal by usage. Velocity is average release speed in mph, spin in rpm, and whiff rate is misses per swing — the cleanest single measure of whether a pitch beats hitters. BAA and OPS are what hitters did against each pitch, credited to the one that ended the plate appearance, and are left blank under 15 at-bats.

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Clay Buchholz

Similar players

Nearest 2019 seasons by command, run prevention and role, on rate statistics rather than totals.

Félix HernándezSEA

ERA: 6.40
FIP: 6.00
SO: 57
WAR: -0.3

Very close

Yusei KikuchiSEA

ERA: 5.46
FIP: 5.71
SO: 116
WAR: -0.2

Very close

Glenn SparkmanKC

ERA: 6.02
FIP: 5.93
SO: 81
WAR: -0.6

Very close

Kyle FreelandCOL

ERA: 6.73
FIP: 5.99
SO: 79
WAR: -0.1

Very close

How these are computed

wOBA uses linear weights measured from this season's own play-by-play rather than published constants, and wRC+ is park-adjusted against that same league. dbWAR is our own open implementation — not fWAR or bWAR — and the full derivation, including its simplifications, is on the methodology page.