Now pitching for the New York Yankees, #34, Phil Hughes!
A Quick Intro: Phil Hughes was born on June 24, 1986. He was selected by the New York Yankees as the 23rd overall draft pick on the 2004 draft. Hughes signed with the Yankees on June 16, 2004.
Age: 21 Height: 6′5”. Weight: 220 lbs. Bats/Throws: R/R Debut: April 26, 2007
2007 line: 5-3, 72.2IP, 64H, 39R, 36 ER, 29 BB, 58 SO, 8 HR, 4.46 ERA, .235 BAA
Look Back: 2007 was for the most part, a disappointing year for Phil Hughes, at least because of the lofty expectations placed upon him. Called up quickly after only 3 starts in Triple-A to aid a messed-up Yankee rotation, Phil struggled in his debut against Toronto (4.1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 5 SO, 8.31 ERA) but bounced back in his next start against Texas (6.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 6 SO, 0.00 ERA). Unfortunately, he suffered an injury during this start and would not return to the mound until August. When August came around, Hughes was a very different pitcher (32.1 IP, 25 H, 25 R, 23 ER, 15 BB, 29 SO, 6.40 ERA). He had lost some zip in his fastball and his usually great control (66 BB in 275 IP in the minors) was nowhere to be found. I believe that this was because he still wasn’t 100% recovered from his prior injury. However, when September and October rolled around, Hughes showed us a glimpse of his dominance pitching to the tune of 29.2 IP, 25 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 10 BB, 18 SO, and a 2.73 ERA.
2008 Outlook: I think it would be reasonable to expect Hughes to post league-average production for 2008. I would gladly take 145 IP, 135 H, 40BB, 130 SO, 4.20 ERA from Hughes. His 2007 stats were for one skewed because of the injuries he sustained. Aside from the jump in his walk rate and home run rate, Hughes showed respectable numbers in other categories. He held batters to a .235 BA and a .313 OBP. He struggled at home (5.91 ERA, .313 BAA, .375 OBP in 7 starts) but was masterful away (3.11 ERA, .148 BAA, .243 OBP in 6 starts). Even more remarkable was his numbers during crunch situations (.246 BAA, .333 OBP with RISP, .233 BAA, .305 OBP with 2 outs, and a .207 BAA, .303 OBP with 2 outs and RISP). A good thing to watch out for though is his stamina within a start. Oftentimes, Hughes struggled by the 5th inning (.303 BAA, .373 OBP, .522 SLG) and this could be roughly explained by the fact that the Yankees implemented a strict 5-inning, 90-pitch count limit on Hughes on the minors. Certainly, this is one department that pitching coach Dave Eiland should work on. Finally, looking at some AL East opponents, Hughes showed good numbers against them (3.38 ERA vs BAL, 3.97 ERA vs TB, 4.70 ERA vs TOR), albeit a limited sample size. Nevertheless, such a production is still way better than what we would be getting from an Igawa, Karstens, Rasner, or Wright spot start. Anyway, the 2008 season is just around the corner and I am so excited to see Hughes strut his stuff once more. Let us hope though that he avoids the injury bug and delivers like what he has been doing throughout his career in the minors: dominate.
Next, Joba Chamberlain.
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