2012 Phil Hughes Performance Thread

[Torre Must Go]

Throws 2 beauty pitches and gives up an 0-2 hit to help open floodgates. Seems like Hughes' Yankee tenure for the most part

[CyYoung4Vazquez]

Between the errors and getting squeezed, no complaints from me.

[Donnybaseball72]

McDonald still thinks he's playing for the Sox with his shoddy defense. He cost Phil 2 runs.

[NelsonMuntz]

The error definitely hurt but he has no one but himself to blame for getting owned by Pedro Ciriaco.

[ArodEra]

The error definitely hurt but he has no one but himself to blame for getting owned by Pedro Ciriaco.

Agreed. He should have put him away.

[snapple]

He looks like he could use a break.

[AuroraBomberalis]

The error definitely hurt but he has no one but himself to blame for getting owned by Pedro Ciriaco.

That guy didn't really hit a ball hard all night. Sometimes a guy just hits the ball in the right spots.

[dabomb2045]

Hughes was okay tonight. Not his best stuff...but if he had even a bit of luck tonight, he could have went 6 innings/1 run. The Granderson/McDonald mishap cost him one run. Jeter's error and a well placed groundball (wasnt hit hard by Ciriaco, just in the right spot down the line) ruined everything.

[yarosh25]

I love Phil as solid regular season starter, as a postseason starter, I'm petrified. Solid 4/5.

[just-blaze]

Between the errors and getting squeezed, no complaints from me.

I thought so too. Still, some bad pitch selections tonight, I wonder if he had poor scouting reports on the new faces or underestimated them.

Positives are that Ortiz didn't destroy him like usual and he absolutely pwned Saltalamacchia.

[surge511]

I love Phil as solid regular season starter, as a postseason starter, I'm petrified. Solid 4/5.

Agreed. He is a very solid back-end starter on a top team and would probably be a #2 on an NL Central/West team. But unless he can develop an additional pitch to induce more ground balls, he's going to continue battling against home runs and high pitch counts. And if he doesn't have a good FB or CB on any given day, he's screwed.

[joela]

He has a good fastball, but his curve loops too much. A good curve "drops off the table". Also, he doesn't throw his change-up. He either has to develop more, or eventually end up as a relief pitcher. As already said, he can't beat good line-ups in the playoffs.
Look how Freddie Garcia handled the Sox line-up earlier that day. He fooled all those AAAA players with his selection of 5 pitches, and stayed away from Big Papi. Then Phil pitched the night game, and suddenly people think those minor league players are tough hitters.

[indianyanksfan]

Solid number 4 who can go on nice stretches-- that's nice to have

[Gator's Shadow]

Since May 6:

13 starts (really, 2 stinkers in the bunch)

8-3
84.3 IP
7.8 k/9
3.41 ERA
1.21 WHIP

People can talk about his lack of a third pitch, consistency and fly ball tendencies all they want (and there is truth to all of it), but the above represents a half season of much better than "bottom of the rotation" results.

[Mr.Muhozi]

The fact that this thread is pretty much a ghost town means he's doing really well. His last start was a solid effort and hope he has a great second half.

[Yankee Tripper]

Since May 6:

13 starts (really, 2 stinkers in the bunch)

8-3
84.3 IP
7.8 k/9
3.41 ERA
1.21 WHIP

People can talk about his lack of a third pitch, consistency and fly ball tendencies all they want (and there is truth to all of it), but the above represents a half season of much better than "bottom of the rotation" results.

He (and Freddy) have both been more than good since their disaster Aprils. Phil was a dreadful 1-3 with 7.88 ERA in April.

[TheBamTino24]

Hughes has had an interesting season.

He didn't complete 6 innings in any of his first 5 starts of the year, allowed 28 hits in 21.1 IP, had a 7.48 ERA, and 7 of the 28 hits were homeruns, but what was interesting about that sampling is that he had a 23 to 7 K:BB ratio.

So there were "signs".

On May 3rd he put forward a really good start and since then he's put up the following lines spanning 92.2 IP over 14 starts with a 1.17 WHIP (87 hits/21 walks):

ERA	Win Pct.	K per 9	BB per 9	HR per 9	K/BB	WRS %
3.30	.667	7.7	2.0	1.46	3.76	83.7

[1936-1939JoeNLou]

His change was beautiful yesterday.

[EvanJ]

What's WRS%?

[NYCrusader]

One of the Yankee beat writers(Marc Carig) linked this piece on Phil from a Yankee blog.

Pretty solid piece on Hughes going from pitching from a high 3/4 angle on his release point in April when he was struggling, to a more normal 3/4 angle he is pitching at today and the effects it has had on things like his GB% in the small sample size.

http://www.yankeeanalysts.com/2012/0...e-an-ace-43129

[groovitude]

Interesting interview with Phil on Fangraphs this morning: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index...-a-repertoire/

[just-blaze]

I want to believe you will give us a good quality start, but Anaheim/Boston always hits you pretty well.

[Shadoux101]

One of the Yankee beat writers(Marc Carig) linked this piece on Phil from a Yankee blog.

Pretty solid piece on Hughes going from pitching from a high 3/4 angle on his release point in April when he was struggling, to a more normal 3/4 angle he is pitching at today and the effects it has had on things like his GB% in the small sample size.

http://www.yankeeanalysts.com/2012/0...e-an-ace-43129

He also hasn't looked as much like he short arms the ball really as much. He looked like a fatty trying to play sports or maybe T-Rex pitching. When he came out earlier saying "he found something" seemed to have a better delivery at least in terms of finishing the pitch.

Looking at the article, it looks like he is more compact, standing straighter up as he lifts his leg and driving right to home plate. His whole body seems to have more torque as he delivers and no wasted motion or fighting to correct his delivery (which are all great signs and helps a great deal with control) Ball looks hidden more even as he is putting it behind him before the arm goes up (looks like he is actually keeping the ball hidden behind his leg compared to showing it to the hitter). Maybe tipping pitches?

Looks good. Good article, thanks!

[The Comic Book Guy]

I'm just happy that there's an explanation for how disappointing his CB has been at the ML-level considering how nasty it was in the minors. Maybe it's been brought up before that the hammy tear in '07 was the culprit for his subsequent shortened stride and altered delivery, but I was never aware.

Maybe he should take up yoga in the offseason to loosen up his left hammy and possibly get back to his old delivery.

[ThePinStripes]

OPS Against (this year)
Angels: 1.201
Rangers: 1.236
Red Sox: .967 (prior to tonight)