FanNation - The Republic of Sport

SAN FRANCISCO -- Jacoby Ellsbury wasn't upset that he went hitless in the Futures Game on Sunday. He was just happy to have a pair of pants to wear home from the ballpark.

That's how much of a whirlwind this past week has been for the highly touted Red Sox prospect. On Thursday, he was helping the Red Sox rout the Devil Rays 15-4 at Fenway Park, going 2-for-2 to increase his batting average to .375 in six games with the big club. After the game, he got a dose of good news/bad news that would leave any rookie's head spinning.

"Right before I got on the plane my agent called me and says, 'You're going to Pawtucket to play a doubleheader, then on Sunday your'e going to the Futures Game," Ellsbury said. "It was crazy. I didn't know where the hotel was and I didn't have anything with me. I didn't even have any pants."

It's a good thing for Ellsbury that fellow Red Sox farmhand Clay Buchholz, a flame-throwing right-hander currently in Double-A (but not for long), also was making the trip to the Bay for the Futures Game. Who do you think lent Ellsbury the blue jeans he had hanging in his locker after the game?

Though the Red Sox's talented duo of Buchholz and Ellsbury couldn't carry the U.S. to victory on Sunday (the World team won 7-2), they both showed why the big club might be planning to use them both as secret weapons come playoff time. The 23-year-old Ellsbury, despite going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, turned the simplest of plays -- a grounder to second base to lead off the bottom of the first inning -- into a stunning display of speed as he nearly beat second baseman German Duran's throw to first. This Ellsbury kid is the same one you might have seen on Sportscenter highlights last Monday when he scored from second base on a wild pitch in a Red Sox-Rangers game.

"I've been timed in the high 4.2s in the 40-yard dash, 6.3 in the 60," he said.

Speed isn't his only weapon, though it does come in handy in patrolling his natural position of center field (he played left in the Futures Game while Arizona's uber-prospect Justin Upton was in center). Patience at the plate is the part of his skills set the Red Sox and other organizations like best about Ellsbury, a 2005 first-round pick out of Oregon State who has a .380 OBP in 213 minor-league at-bats this season and got on base at a .444 clip during his cup of coffee with Boston. Combine all of his tools and his maturity and you can see why light-hitting Red Sox center fielder Coco Crisp isn't long for his spot in the starting lineup.

Buchholz wasn't the star of the game either for the U.S. (that would be Upton), but the 22-year-old, lanky Texas right-hander displayed the power arm and poise that will have him shooting up the ranks sooner rather than later. After giving up a home run to Reds prospect Joey Votto to lead off his only inning of work -- the sixth -- Buchholz settled down to retire the next three batters in impressive fashion, setting them up with a mid-90s fastball and putting them away with his assortment of devastating offspeed pitches -- a curve and a changeup that both come in at around 78-80 mph. He struck out two batters, the second of which came on a Bugs Bunny changeup for a swing-and-a-miss on strike three. He said he also has an above-average slider that he didn't even bother to use because the outing was so brief.

"It's nice to have a couple of pitches you can go to when one is not working," he said.

In all likelihood, Buchholz already has made his final start in Double-A Portland, where he is 7-2 with a 1.77 ERA (116 Ks in 86 2/3 innings) this season, and will be promoted to Triple-A after the All-Star break.

"My [Double-A] manager called me and said, "I might not see you again," Buchholz said. "So I'm taking that to mean either he's getting fired or i'm going up to Triple-A."

And maybe higher than that. The Red Sox are grooming him for a possible late-season bullpen role and, if successful, an outside shot at a coveted postseason roster spot.

Buchholz already has passed a stern test to his mettle earlier this season, when he outpitched Roger Clemens -- striking out eight in six innings -- during the Rocket's Double-A start for Trenton in late May before joining the Yankees. (You might not have seen much of Buchholz in that game, though, because ESPN was only broadcasting the half-innings that Clemens was pitching.)
 
More tests such as today's Futures Game outing will come soon enough for Buchholz and Ellsbury both, and maybe they might even have each other around to bum clothes off of, too.