Comments on: Scouts “stunned by Phil Hughes’ lack of velocity this spring”

By: Jack Marshall

Jack Marshall — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 23:12:05 +0000

They are in big trouble anyway. If any other team had this roster and this team’s holes, they would be picked for third or lower.

By: wickedworld123

wickedworld123 — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 21:46:43 +0000

Baddd news if it continues. And I hope it does. But, I’m not necessarily convinced anything is wrong yet.

By: king3319

king3319 — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 21:00:20 +0000

It’s Spring Training!!! No starter in their right mind throws all out during this time!!! As many have already said and we all should know ST means nothing, I’m not gonna worry or pay any attention to a “radar gun” until august when the season really starts to matter

By: purdueman

purdueman — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:51:30 +0000

I haven’t seen anything that would qualify either headcase Burnett or erratic Hughes as being a legit #2 starter, much less on a team in baseballs strongest division, the AL East.

No, all signs point to growing dark clouds over the Yankees starting rotation (or lack there of). Neither Colon nor Garcia have been able to make it through a full season in a long, long time without extended stints on the DL, and neither has gotten any younger either. Milwood was atrocious for the O’s last season as well.

What continue to thoroughly perplex me is why with reliable (albeit unspectacular), veterans like Joe Blanton and Edwin Jackson there for the taking (meaning assuming their $8M+/year contracts), with the right mix of prospects to trade that the Yankees have simply chosen to sit idly by and roll the dice. It’s not as if the Yankees aging roster has that many kicks left at the can you know!

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:42:57 +0000

As a Sox fan, naturally I’m hoping Hughes is ineffective this year. But, like everything out of ST, this has to be taken with a grain of salt. We’ll see how he performs once the games start.

By: dfensfelix

dfensfelix — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:29:21 +0000

God I hate the Yankees

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 17:31:06 +0000

I did watch the game, and while Purcey isn’t a single A pitcher, he is no lock to make the team and undeniably wouldn’t be left in to absorb the damage he permitted. As it is only Spring Training, perhaps too much is being made of his velocity, but to dismiss it as merely “working on things” seems to be whistling past the graveyard. As Aaron states, the high 80′s readings were not on cutters. Plus the Jays had a number of hard hit balls that were caught. I would say it was an okay outing, but Reyes was considerably better. I hope Hughes can repeat 2009. But knowing he is the second most solid hurler on my team is troubling to put it mildly.

By: pisano

pisano — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:59:04 +0000

If he was on any other team you wouldn’t hear a thing about it. It would be reported as Phil is working on a new pitch, but on the Yankees the media takes on a completely different view, like there might be some arm problem. As aburns77 stated, “take it with a grain of salt”

By: genericcommenter

genericcommenter — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:57:32 +0000

Maybe he picked up some things from that old guy who won 20 games for the Yankees a couple years ago with a 87 MPH fastball.

By: Chris Fiorentino

Chris Fiorentino — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:54:34 +0000

If the Yankers #2 struggles, they are in big, big trouble.

By: sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo

sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:50:56 +0000

Hughes fell in love with his cutter, to his detriment, last season. Hughes even afmitted that he was throwing it about 40% in his last start. Perhaps the scouts are really clocking that pitch?

By: yankeesgameday

yankeesgameday — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:49:51 +0000

It’s just another question mark for the rotation, but if you saw Hughes pitch against most of the Blue Jays regular lineup on Tuesday, he threw for 7 innings and gave up only 3 runs. That’s a quality start and even though he left down 3-0 the Yanks won that game in old style fashion by beating the Toronto relievers. Everyone had their game faces on that day and Toronto didn’t run single A pitchers out to the mound.

Hughes velocity on his fastball might be “down” and if the radar gun says so, well numbers are numbers and you can’t argue with that. But it seems that Hughes is learning to “pitch” and not just “throw.” He has a cutter now and that change up has been very impressive. I agree that there is a correlation between a 92 mph fastball and being able to get outs with that changeup, but professional hitters can adjust to speed, and what Hughes is doing is combining location with movement, velocity be damned.

The most important thing for a pitcher to do is get outs for his team and so no one should be complaining about that from Hughes at the moment. So much emphasis is put on numbers, but I don’t think that is a replacement for actually watching someone pitch. As long as there is movement on that fastball at 89 and his changeup works he still has a “plus” curveball. Add in the new cutter and you have a guy who won’t wear down in the fifth, and won’t wear down in the second half of the season again. No, I think this dip in velocity is going to see Hughes keeping the score close through the seventh inning and up his win totals for a team in a tight pennant race come August and September!

With the Yankee bullpen being a major strength for this team I will take 6-7 innings of Phil Hughes giving up only 3 or 4 runs every time out.

There are a ton of rotation question marks for the Yanks, but Hughes velocity issues doesn’t feel like it is one of them to me.

By: aburns77

aburns77 — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:43:29 +0000

This is Phil’s fourth year in the majors and the fourth year I’ve read a glut of “what’s wrong with Hughes’ velocity?” articles, and in no time he’s back to throwing 92-94 so you’ll excuse me if I take this with a huge grain of salt.

By: yankeesfanlen

yankeesfanlen — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:33:25 +0000

I’m not about to get my bowels in an uproar over this. Why? Because Phil Hughes is LUCKY. He’s almost the reverse of years of Andy being the “:tough luck loser” so many times.
That Blue Jays game was saved by offense the other day, Phil stayed in for an accptable start.
If he’s mixing in cutters or slower speeds (sounds like Mo and Andy to me) to add some confusion to the opposition, then okay.

By: cur68

cur68 — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:32:02 +0000

If he didn’t have a cutter I’d be more concerned about his velocity. The question now is; how goods that cutter? As Roy Halladay has shown an above average cut fastball sets up or gets you a lot of outs and can keep you deep in games providing you have the mechanics to prevent arm injury.