It was obvious from the first pitch of Clay Buchholz’s rehab start at Triple-A Pawtucket on Sunday night that the talented righty had marching orders to work on his heater. Buchholz threw 63 pitches over four plus innings and threw 38 for strikes, with over 70 percent of the pitches qualifying as of the fastball variety.

The 23-year-old hit 96-mph on the fast Pawtucket radar gun at least three times and hit 95-mph a handful of times. While that likely means 93-mph and 94-mph in the real world of big league baseball, that’s still a pretty good velocity for the young starter to live at when he returns to a suddenly overstuffed starting rotation.

By the way, the outside assumptions that Buchholz will fill a bullpen role at some point this season for the Sox are much more fiction that reality. The Sox didn't like the way Buchholz's arm responded to attempting to pitch a role out of the bullpen last season, and they're not willing to risk his golden arm in a 'pen experiment this season. Not going to happen.

Here’s a few of the righty’s thoughts after his first PawSox start last night:

Was the nail a factor at all out there?
CB: Whenever it happened, it affected the fastball. I hurt it throwing a two-seamer, and whenever I would try to throw it after that I would feel pressure on my finger. That was the game where I really started going with a lot of curveballs and changeups and a lot of off-speed stuff. Today and in previous bullpen sessions I didn’t feel it at all and I really just felt natural and normal.

How did you feel on the mound today after the long layoff?
CB: I felt good and I felt rested. I was up in the zone a little bit, but I think that was a case of not having thrown in a little while and being a little anxious to throw. Feel like I got low in the zone after that and just overthrew a couple of pitches that I wanted low in the zone. Today was a good day for me.

Did you feel like you wanted to throw the fastball early?
CB: Yeah. They told me they wanted me to throw 60-65 percent fastballs, and there some counts where I could have thrown off-speed pitches and got some swings and misses. But I stuck with the fastball and overall felt like it worked out good.

Is that the ratio that they want you throwing at the big league level?
CB: Yeah. [The fastball ratio] was a really low because I guess I fell in love with the off-speed stuff because I had so much success with it early, but big league hitters catch on to it and they have video just like I have video up there. It’s easy to see what kind of routine somebody can get into whether it’s hitting or pitching. They definitely want me to throw a lot more fastballs, locate it, get ahead with the fastball and then maybe the second or third time through the lineup start mixing it up and throwing off-speed pitches on the first pitch and stuff like that.

Have they told you what’s next for you?
CB: From what I understand, I have another [Triple-A] outing in Durham, and it’s up to them from there. They said I was coming down for two outings and that’s what I am looking at right now…if I have to stay any longer than that, then so be it. I’ll be ready to go whenever they call.

It’s got to be a really weird situation with the six starters. Do you talk about it like [the media] does?
CB: Like I said, whenever they give you the ball and call your name you go out and do your job and do whatever you can to help the team win. You can’t really wonder what’s going to happen or where you’re going to be five days later. You’ve just got to make the best out of every outing that you make, and that’s what I’m on my way to doing right now. I want to get up there and stay up there regardless of whether it’s five starters or six starters.

You seem like you were anxious to get out there and get going.
CB: I was ready to go. It’s been awhile, it’s been like two weeks. It was a good day for me. I felt good. I felt strong. I felt like I was throwing harder than I have been on a consistent basis and it was a fun day.

Are you going to be disappointed if you make another Triple-A start after that next Durham start?
CB: No, I’m still pitching and still playing baseball. If it was something where I was hurt and I wasn’t going to pitch at all, then I’d be a lot more upset if that was the case. If I have to make another start then I’m still at Triple-A and just one phone call away. It is what it is.