Early returns favorable

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- It was a nice handoff, in a manner of speaking. As Jason Varitek walked into the clubhouse at the Red Sox minor league complex after his time with the media -- American and Japanese -- he took his right fist and playfully jammed it into the stomach of Daisuke Matsuzaka, as the pitcher headed outside to do his own media work.

It was a sign that required no Japanese to understand, not that Varitek is trying to learn any so far. Just like when Varitek joked that Matsuzaka had to carry his equipment bag out to the field yesterday, which the pitcher did, it's indicative that, despite the intense media scrutiny and language barrier, his teammates are more than prepared to treat him as one of their own.

Especially if he can pitch.

Of course, it's too soon to expect a judgment from the catcher whose first chance to see Matsuzaka in action came yesterday when the pitcher took to the far bullpen mound, next to Hideki Okajima, along with the four other members of the rotation. Forty pitches and eight minutes later, it was all over.

"It's quite a bit early to make an assessment of anybody, but the ball definitely came out of his hand real well," Varitek said. "He just threw fastballs to both sides of the plate, elevated a pitch, threw a pitch down and away, and threw two pitchouts. For the amount of his repertoire, he has quite a bit more to go through to see."

And, though Varitek was stingy with the pronouncements, fellow starter Curt Schilling wasn't.

"I think the kid is phenomenally talented," Schilling said. "I think he's an ace in the making, stuff-wise. Makeup-wise he's polished, he's very composed. He's a mature 26-year-old kid.

"I guarantee he's expecting to win 25 games and win a Cy [Young] and win a World Series, because that's what great pitchers do. Everybody talks about him winning 15 or 16. That won't be a good year for him. He won't look at that as a good year."

Varitek wasn't quite as provocative, as usual, though it does seem as if the catcher already has begun influencing Matsuzaka, even considering the brevity of their encounter. Or, perhaps, the Japanese pitcher has just taken the one piece of advice given by Josh Beckett: "Trust 'Tek."

"Even with the limited number of pitches we did, he pointed out some improvements that I could make, which I really appreciated," Matsuzaka said, through an interpreter. "I realized how carefully he tracks the ball and I also asked him if he can continue [telling me] how I can improve my pitching."

After seeing almost exclusively four-seam fastballs, it was hard for the catcher to make many suggestions. But, for him, it was just important to see the way the ball comes out of the golden hand of the Japanese megastar, whose media contingent dwarfed anything most people ever had seen.

That doesn't mean that, with time, the catcher's diagnoses won't get more detailed. Because, as communication improves, and as those breaking balls start flying, presumably the understanding and relationship will deepen.

"We are at the very beginning, so I think from this point on we will gradually bring up the level," Matsuzaka said. "So today I pitched at the level of maybe 60 to 70 percent. From the beginning I think it was good. Of course it was a different way of approaching, but overall I think it worked out fine."

Though he acknowledged he was a little tired and a little nervous during and after the mound session, Matsuzaka seemed satisfied. He made it through his pitches, made it through the fungoes with manager Terry Francona (who did not watch his throwing session, so as to not put pressure on him), and made it through pitchers' fielding practice. And at the end he had enough humor to get in a little joke of his own, to show a little more of the personality that seems to be part of the $103 million package.

Asked by a reporter about the quality of Schilling's Japanese, Matsuzaka turned to his interpreter to hear the question repeated in his native language. Then, given just a second to think, he burst out: "Very good."

In English.

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.