This One's For The Hughes Haters

Since I know a lot of you are going to look at yesterday's AFL start for Hughes as another reason why the Yankees should get rid of Hughes ASAP, I figured I'd post an article that gave a different perspective.

From Dugout Central's Chuck Johnson (Johnson is a former account exec with the Double A Eastern League and a longtime SABR member):

Friday night, I went to the AFL’s website to see who the probable pitchers were. I was pretty juiced to find that none other than Philip Hughes was scheduled to toe the rubber for the visiting “Javs”. Arriving early as usual, but without the normal concession or potty stops before getting to our seats, I stopped by the visitors’ bullpen to watch Hughes’ pre-game warm-up.

Man, does he have good stuff! It is unexplainable for me to understand why his record is what it is. His ‘pen was as impressive a session as any I’ve seen all year, and I’ve seen some good ones. His two-seamer moves as much as any I’ve seen. From 20 feet behind and elevated up from the stands, the movement was clearly noticeable. His slider was tight and sharp, and he snapped off a few major league curveballs, although he didn’t command it as well as the fastball and slider.

OK, back to the game. Hughes ended up pitching two and a third innings, throwing five and two thirds worth of pitches (72), with just 40 being strikes. I wrote in my game notes, “hits target on fastball, not so much on breaking stuff.” I think he just needs a different mind-set. His ball moves so much he probably just needs to adjust his target. Instead of throwing where he wants the ball to start, he should throw to where he wants it to end up. This is how Greg Maddux pitches, even though he never threw as hard as Hughes does, Maddux was at least average with his fastball when he was younger, (90-ish), yet learned early on how to manage his stuff. Hughes has a far better overall repertoire than does the more publicized Joba Chamberlain, and being that he’s nine months younger, I feel he has a much higher ceiling and will have a longer and better career.

I will start off by saying that while I agree Hughes has a bright career ahead of him, I don't think it will be better than Joba's. But to be honest, this isn't the first time I've heard this from baseball people so you never know.

However, I do think we should all realize that this is what baseball people, you know, the experts? think about Hughes. This is why Brian Cashman is still getting call after call seeing if Hughes is available.

Also, for those worrying about, or just interested in his velocity, it was reported by Peter Abraham and Kevin Kernan (on XM radio) last week that Hughes has gotten his velocity up and has been throwing 95 MPH in the AFL.

Some will say that I'm just drinking the Phil Hughes Kool-Aid, and that's fine, those people are entitled to their opinions. But his stuff is there, it's just a matter of putting it all together.