Hughes Getting Close To Return

From Mike Scandura:

Despite making a second straight impressive rehab start for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, Phil Hughes has no idea as to when he might get a call to New York.

But Hughes delivered a performance on Tuesday night that indicated he might not be all that far away from another trip to the Bronx.

Hughes, who last pitched in the big leagues on April 29 because of a stress fracture in his right rib cage, tossed 5 1/3 innings as the Yankees outlasted the Pawtucket Red Sox, 8-6, in 11 innings at McCoy Stadium.

Besides hitting 93-94 mph consistently on the stadium radar gun, Hughes threw 50 of his 84 pitches for strikes. He allowed two runs on three hits, walked one and struck out four.

"I felt fine, just like the last few times out," Hughes, who was on an 85-pitch count, said. "I wanted to mix in more changeups. I threw some in counts that I normally wouldn't throw them in. But we decided to go with it because I wanted to get a few more in.

"Overall, I felt pretty good. I haven't felt the rib [his ninth rib] since I was in Tampa, Fla. It's kind of a long process, but it's good to be back and throwing the ball pretty well. Obviously, things didn't go real well up there at the beginning of the year. I'm sure they want to see me prove myself down here again, so however many starts they feel that is, I'll roll with it."

"I thought Chad Moeller did a real nice job with him, using all his pitches," (Butch) Wynegar said. "There were a few occasions where he threw his breaking ball behind in the count and he threw it for strikes. He mixed his changeup in well."

"It's another pitch to keep hitters on their toes. You can't sit back and look fastball against Phil because he had the good breaking ball going. When you change something front to back like that, with the changeup, it puts a third pitch in the hitter's minds and can keep him off-balance."

"I guess my next outing will be around 90-plus pitches," Hughes said. "From that aspect, I feel ready to go. And physically, I feel fine."

I'm happy that he's using his changeup more. I've said this many times but he really needs to mix his pitches. It's also a good sign to see that his velocity is up. These are obviously two keys for Hughes to be successful in the big leagues.

Hughes is scheduled to make his next rehab start on Sunday at Lehigh Valley, and unless he gets shelled I can't see him making another start in the minors after that. So maybe we will see Hughes rejoin the Yankees rotation during the Baltimore series.