BUCHHOLZ

PAWTUCKET — Clay Buchholz spent yesterday afternoon stuck in traffic on his way to McCoy Stadium.

The Red Sox pitching prospect commutes from Boston to Pawtucket on a daily basis. When he finally arrived yesterday, the 23-year-old right-hander had someone special waiting to watch his bullpen session.

Former Red Sox left-hander Bruce Hurst — along with PawSox pitching coach Rich Sauveur — was waiting for the rookie. Hurst, a 15-year veteran, including nine years in Boston, is a pitching consultant for the Red Sox and he’s been keeping a close watch on Buchholz.

Hurst, the owner of a 145-113 record in 379 career games, worked with Buchholz, who has a 5-4 record in 12 games (11 starts) in his young major-league career.

“He’s got incredible stuff,” Hurst said. “For every young kid, especially with ability like that, it’s about the next step — making that last step to cross the threshold and become a major-league pitcher. He certainly has the ability and has terrific stuff. Now it’s just a matter of making it work at the major-league level.”

Hurst spent a season and a half with the PawSox in 1980 and 1981 before becoming a staple in the Boston rotation, while Buchholz has taken a different sort of path.

By now everyone knows about his no-hitter in only his second major-league start, against the Orioles last September. It’s obvious that his four above-average pitches — fastball, curveball, changeup and slider — will allow him succeed at the major-league level. It was also obvious the Red Sox wanted him to continue his development in the minors.

Buchholz began the season in the Sox’ rotation because of injuries to Curt Schilling and Bartolo Colon, but the rookie also knew he would be back in Pawtucket at some point. When he was optioned to Triple A at the end of May, Red Sox management said it wanted him to change a few things in his delivery, and so far it’s worked to his advantage.

He has a 4-1 record with a 1.63 ERA in 38 2/3 innings of work. He’s recorded 38 strikeouts and issued 15 walks while adjusting his motion.

“He’s made some very good strides with his new arm slot, but he still needs some consistency with it,” said Sauveur. “There are times when he reverts back to the old arm slot when he feels like he needs more velocity, but he really doesn’t need to. His new slot is where all the positives results will come from.”

His new arm slot is about five to nine inches away from his head. His old arm slot was more over the top of his head, which forced him to tilt his head in order for his follow-through to come through. Now there’s less head movement, which is giving him more direction and command toward the plate.

It’s clear with his numbers in Pawtucket that the right-hander has toned down his upper-body movement and has a less herky-jerky delivery. If you watch old game footage of his delivery, Buchholz is off balance. Not anymore.

There’s more movement on the fastball and he’s seeing more consistency with his other three pitches, too. The aerodynamics of the new motion has also helped.

“He’s knows what he has to do,” Sauveur said. “He just needs to stay consistent with it.”

This is Sauveur’s first season in the Red Sox organization. The former big-league pitcher — he played in parts of six seasons with Pittsburgh, Montreal, the Mets, Kansas City, the White Sox and Oakland — spent five years as a pitching coach in the Brewers’ minor-league system. He’s worked with some very impressive prospects.

While sitting in the PawSox’ dugout yesterday, Sauveur began to talk about the Brewers’ Manny Parre, 26, and Yovani Gallardo, 23, both of whom Sauveur worked work with in the minors.

“I didn’t think I would ever see anyone like Gallardo until I met this kid,” said Sauveur, referring to Buchholz. “This kid has better stuff than Gallardo. Buch has four major-league pitches, and it’s amazing to see a kid have that kind of stuff. If he can stay with his consistent arm slot — being away from his head a little bit — he’s going to have an unbelievable career in the big leagues.”

Sauveur expects Buchholz to be back in the majors sooner rather than later.

“I feel in 25 years I’m going to be able to say, ‘I coached that guy’ and it’s going to be a great feeling,’ ” Sauveur said. “He’s a great kid to work with and he’s a competitor — there’s no doubt about it. It just oozes out of him. What I love about this kid is, when he steps between the lines, it’s game on. He’s outstanding.”

jmcdonal@projo.com