Meet Clay Buchholz

Today at 1:05-ish, a significant part of the future of the Red Sox takes the Fenway Park mound for his Major League debut. Some have called Clay Buchholz the best pitching prospect in all of baseball. Others salivated when he completely out-pitched Roger Clemens, while the duplicitous one was making a conditioning start. So who is this wunderkind, you may ask. Here is your quick Clay Buchholz primer.

Amalie Benjamin has a nice feature in the Globe about the just-turned 23-year-old, and among other things, she reported that Buchholz turned down football scholarship offers from Notre Dame and Purdue to sign with the Sox.

The Herald’s Jeff Horrigan cautions everyone to keep this start in perspective. He’s right, of course, as Buchholz will almost certainly be demoted between games of the doubleheader, possibly for fellow super-prospect Jacoby Ellsbury. Either way it appears the Wily Mo Pena era is over.

Sox Prospects has a great page complete with Buchholz stats, a scouting report (five pitches including a mid 90s fastball and a big-time curve) and an interview.

ProJo columnist Bill Reynolds talked to Skip Buchholz for this on Clay when he joined the PawSox.

Finally, Baseball America had him as the team’s No. 2 prospect when the 2007 season began.