2012 Phil Hughes Performance Thread

[NYCrusader]

I want to believe these last two starts are a sign of something coming together for him and building on and up, but we've been down this road so many times now...

Nothing crazy about this statement.

Quite fair honestly.

Hopefully he does build on it though and has himself a good season.

[89FoxBody]

Disappointed to see him give up the HR, he looked very deflated by it. Bad pitch calling. Quintero sucks, no reason to throw anything near the plate 0-2. Good start overall though.

[NelsonMuntz]

Hughes on the road >>> Hughes @ Yankees Stadium. Unfortunately for us the Yankees play most of their games at Yankee Stadium.

[conkermaniac]

He actually wasn't doing badly as a starter in 09. He was inconsistent but starting to come around before they put him in the bullpen to make room for CMW.

I'm not so sure about that. Here were his starts from that year:

4/28: 6 IP, 0 ER
5/4: 4 IP, 3 ER
5/9: 1.2 IP, 8 ER
5/15: 5 IP, 3 ER
5/20: 5 IP, 3 ER
5/25: 8 IP, 0 ER
5/31: 5 IP, 4 ER

It looks like he did have one nice start not long before he was moved to the bullpen, but he followed that up with a mediocre start. By the way, I had forgotten what a tease Hughes was before seeing these stats again. It makes me more cautiously optimistic about his nice start today.

[The Comic Book Guy]

The fastball's been there pretty much all year. If he can consistently throw the curve he showed today, he can have a good year.

[rajah]

Hughes on the road >>> Hughes @ Yankees Stadium. Unfortunately for us the Yankees play most of their games at Yankee Stadium.

Gee; I thought it was 50-50.

[HelloNewman]

Glad Girardi sent him out for the 7th, even if he ended up giving up the home run. Push him. Challenge him. Demand more.

[NYCrusader]

Hughes on the road >>> Hughes @ Yankees Stadium. Unfortunately for us the Yankees play most of their games at Yankee Stadium.

[bizzarrd]

I want to believe these last two starts are a sign of something coming together for him and building on and up, but we've been down this road so many times now...

I refuse to be taken in by these performances. Hughes can continue to tease us all year long, pitching just well enough to stay in the rotation but never really pitching well. Many years ago, the late 49ers coach Bill Walsh said of his pre-Montana quarterback, Steve DeBerg: "Steve plays just well enough to get you beat." Though I hope not, Hughes may well be the Yankees' Steve DeBerg.

[rajah]

So don't "be taken in." Don't be "teased." It doesn't matter what you think of his future potential. Just cheer for him, as for the rest of the team, and hope he does well, and when he does, be happy.

Girardi and the staff have to decide whether he is one of their best five options. It sure seems to me that he is that right now.

[NelsonMuntz]

Gee; I thought it was 50-50.

You know what I mean.

[ThePinStripes]

I would feel better about it if it wasn't the Royals. Middle of the pack AL Central team that currently averages ~3.8 runs/game (again, in the Central).

[Donnybaseball72]

I refuse to be taken in by these performances. Hughes can continue to tease us all year long, pitching just well enough to stay in the rotation but never really pitching well. Many years ago, the late 49ers coach Bill Walsh said of his pre-Montana quarterback, Steve DeBerg: "Steve plays just well enough to get you beat." Though I hope not, Hughes may well be the Yankees' Steve DeBerg.

So who's our Montana?

[ThePinStripes]

So who's our Montana?

Monte--- uh, Pineda?

[Blazer]

Disappointed to see him give up the HR, he looked very deflated by it. Bad pitch calling. Quintero sucks, no reason to throw anything near the plate 0-2. Good start overall though.

Agreed 100%. That one was on Martin.

[groovitude]

I would feel better about it if it wasn't the Royals. Middle of the pack AL Central team that currently averages ~3.8 runs/game (again, in the Central).

They're at 18th of 30 in the Majors.

Assuming he takes the mound every five games, Hughes should draw Seattle (20th), Toronto (8th), Kansas City (18th), Anaheim (23rd), and Detroit (13th).

If he performs as well against Seattle as he did against the Royals today, we'll see whether it's weak opponents or actual improvement when we face Toronto.

[ThePinStripes]

They're at 18th of 30 in the Majors.

Assuming he takes the mound every five games, Hughes should draw Seattle (20th), Toronto (8th), Kansas City (18th), Anaheim (23rd), and Detroit (13th).

If he performs as well against Seattle as he did against the Royals today, we'll see whether it's weak opponents or actual improvement when we face Toronto.

Adding NL teams in there is a bit unfair since the NL scores less runs (and is weaker, offensively). KC is 4th to last in the AL, where Hughes pitches, and the Angels aren't going to be down there very long so yeah, KC is bottom of the barrel, offensively.

[NYCrusader]

Irrelevant of numbers the Royals have some tough hitters to navigate.

If you're a pitcher it can't be too fun facing Butler, Gordon, Hosmer and Moustakas in my opinion.

Those 4 guys are all legit hitters that can beat a pitcher any given day.

All that separates the 7-12(middle of the pack) ranked offenses in the AL according to runs is 14 runs.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/...pe/2/league/al

The Twins who are legitimately a bad offense handled Phil pretty well a couple of weeks ago as a reminder.

He did well against the lineup presented to him today, challenged hitters and had good stuff to boot that is all you can really hope for I don't agree with handicapping him for pitching well against a specific lineup.

It's like W-L as a team for the Yankees, who cares when you play bad teams if the Yankees don't beat them when they play them.

What separates good teams from mediocre teams is beating the teams you're supposed to beat at a reasonable clip.

I assume the same can be said of pitchers, what separates a good pitcher from a mediocre one or even a bad pitcher is navigating through lineups you are supposed to handle.

Now I wouldn't necessarily classify the Royals as one of those lineups their not the Twins, Pirates or Padres lineups who are legitimately bad.

The Royals pitching has been more of their issue as of now, their lineup has been representable statistically as of today.

Short version, Phil most definitely still has to prove himself over a longer period of time and the jury is still out but in my opinion you can't handicap him when he pitches well against what some of you consider a mediocre or even bad offense because part of being a good pitcher is doing exactly that.

[teknetic]

I don't really care much for who he faced, but like NYC said, the Royals have a pretty good group of quality hitters.

He was basically 93-95, touching 96 the entire game. I don't even remember the last time he maintained that sort of velocity throughout the game.

[conkermaniac]

I don't really care much for who he faced, but like NYC said, the Royals have a pretty good group of quality hitters.

He was basically 93-95, touching 96 the entire game. I don't even remember the last time he maintained that sort of velocity throughout the game.

I think the consensus here is that the KC gun was juiced. Logan touched 96 too, FWIW. Still, a consistent 91-93 is encouraging.

[35Knucklecurve]

The change-up looked a lot better today. I forget who the batter was, but he dropped a good one in there on a 3-2 count.

The only way to know for sure if Hughes is really improving for the duration is to keep running him out there. I have to hope he is to keep from pulling any more hair out.

[Yankees1962]

I think the consensus here is that the KC gun was juiced. Logan touched 96 too, FWIW. Still, a consistent 91-93 is encouraging.

I've seen Logan touch mid-90s before.

As to Hughes, his problems sit on top of his shoulders and he needs to trust all of his weapons to be effective.

[rajah]

You know what I mean.

Actually, I don't. The fact that a pitcher is better at home than on the road no more recommends him than that he is better on the road, given the 50-50 split. I can speculate what you might have meant, but I am not sure.

[EvanJ]

Hughes on the road >>> Hughes @ Yankees Stadium. Unfortunately for us the Yankees play most of their games at Yankee Stadium.

Hughes has a 5.16 career ERA at home and 4.00 on the road but his winning percentage is better at home.

[MoVaughnEatsAlot]

I think the consensus here is that the KC gun was juiced. Logan touched 96 too, FWIW. Still, a consistent 91-93 is encouraging.

Averaged 93 and topped out at 96 according to PitchFX

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/...2F&prevDate=56