Phil Hughes Is Here to Stay

Since giving up a two-run home run to Kevin Youkilis in Boston on June 10, Phil Hughes has been untouchable. In 13 appearances, he's held opposing teams scoreless over 19 innings, allowing only 9 hits and 3 walks, while racking up 24 strikeouts. As a reliever, Hughes is sporting an anemic 0.84 ERA, and his 19-inning scoreless streak is, remarkably, only four innings off Mariano Rivera's 2005 23-inning scoreless streak, the second longest streak of Rivera's Hall of Fame career. I wasn't the only one to foresee Hughes' emerging dominance. 

The kid's figured out how to dominate at the Major League level, primarily out of the pen, in much the same way David Cone starred in relief for the Mets in 1987, before anchoring the rotation a year later, in 1988. In fact, Cone's mentioned this parallel a number of times on the YES broadcast this year, because, I think, he sees in Hughes what I see in him: a top of the line starter in the Major Leagues. Like Joba, Hughes will eventually be a key contributor to the Yankees' revamped starting rotation. After a disastrous 2008 season, Hughes is showing why Cashman refused to include him in a potential deal for Johan Santana, and why he won't be sent to Toronto as part of an MLB-ready package for Roy Halladay. Ladies and gentlemen, Phil Hughes is here to stay.  

50 Games In, Yankees Off to a Promising Start

Earlier this season, after the Yankees had dropped their fifth consecutive loss to the Red Sox, I was tempted to write off the team’s chances for capturing their 27th World Championship. The bullpen, behind an embarrassing 5.79 ERA, was the second worst relieving corps in the Majors. The once untouchable Mariano was starting to show cracks, serving up almost as many home runs in his first dozen or so appearances than he did all of last season. The starting pitching wasn’t faring much better. From CC to Joba, the Yankees’ front five performed somewhere between wildly inconsistent and wholly ineffective. Offensively, the Yankees were stuck in a rut, despite averaging about 5 runs per game. Mark Teixeira, the Yankees’ high-priced first baseman through Obama’s second term, couldn’t hit his weight, and was even more dreadful in RBI opportunities. Through April, the Yankees, as a team, were hitting an anemic .237 with runners in scoring position. If it weren’t for Nick Swisher’s and Johnny Damon’s unbelievable first month, the Yankees could have easily been 10 games out, buried in the standings before Alex Rodriguez, out with a hip injury, played a single game. (Cody Ransom, Rodriguez’s replacement, had an equal number of strikeouts as he did hits).

But then a funny thing happened. A-Rod returned, and since May 8, the Yankees have gone a league-best 16-6, an impressive streak that included three consecutive walk-off wins and nine straight victories in as many days. At 29-21, the Bombers currently sit atop of the standings, and are finally living up to their moniker. In May, Teixeira hit .375 and drove in 35 runs, while A-Rod, in 22 games, has seven home runs and 17 RBI. Jorge is finally healthy. Jeter is still playing at a Jeterian level. Cano’s kept up his torrid pace. Melky’s finally playing at a consistent level. And the team’s defense is the best it’s been in years. In yesterday afternoon's loss to the Cleveland Indians, the Yankees tied a Major League record with their 17th-straight game without an error.

Behind staff ace CC Sabathia, the starting pitching, which now includes Phil Hughes, is finally living up to expectations. Despite a few recent subpar outings, A.J. Burnett finally thinks he's figured out his mechanical--and mental--issues, while Andy Pettitte has locked down the back end of the rotation. The calls for Joba to the pen continue, but the kid, even with a less than impressive WHIP, is making  a strong case for why he should stay in the rotation, not just this year, but for the rest of his career. In the later innings, Mariano Rivera has returned to form, and Alfredo Aceves, the second coming of Ramiro Mendoza, has quickly emerged as a late-game stopper and reliable innings-eater. Meanwhile, erstwhile starter Chien-Ming Wang is rounding back into form: his velocity—and his signature sinker—is back, and his ERA, once an unsightly 35, is now a more manageable 16.07, spitting distance to Daisuke Matsuzaka, ESPN's favorite titular ace.

Although the team still needs to figure out the bullpen situation--and some questionable roster decisions-- I'm now much more confident in the Yankees' chances of reaching the postseason, after last year's absence, than I was in early April, just a few weeks ago. I even like their odds of capturing that elusive 27th championship this October. 

Worth the Wait

Phil Hughes delivered. For one day at least, all is right with the Yankees. The team snapped a semi-alarming losing streak, and one of the organization's top young arms finally gave legions of nervous Yankees fans a good look at the same major-league talent that Brian Cashman fell in love with, and refused to give up. 

I was most impressed with Hughes' composure and confidence. He went after each hitter with purpose and conviction, snapping off breaking balls seemingly at will, spotting his above-average fastball and keeping hitters (particularly lefties) honest throughout the night with a pretty effective cutter, a new addition to his already representative repertoire. Really, even if the Yankees had lost, I couldn't have asked for a better outing from Hughes. Who cares if it came one year later than expected?  

Others are impressed, too. Here's a quick roundup of what some are saying. 

Joel Sherman:

You know what Phil Hughes looked like on Tuesday night? He looked like a guy worth waiting for. He looked like the kind of guy you do think long and hard about giving up, even for Johan Santana. He looked like part of the solution for the 2009 Yankees.

Mark Feinsand:

Tuesday night was only one start, but it was the kind of start that reminded us all why this kid had so much hype around him to begin with. Hughes showed precise command of his 92-94 mph fastball, a huge curveball that actually had veteran hitters moving out of the way before it fell in for a called strike and an effective cutter that helped him escape the one jam he got himself into.

[snip]

Hughes is still only 22. If this is how long it took for him to get it together, that’s pretty good.

Tyler Kepner, who, like me, is also bullish about Mark Melancon:

Here’s a prediction. It’s easy to make now, after the last few games, but if you’ve seen them pitch and followed their stories, you believed it even before. Phil Hughes and Mark Melancon won’t go back to the minors.

Mike A.:

All this Pitch f/x stuff is cool and fun to look at, but it can’t quantify the biggest difference between the 2008 version of Phil Hughes and the 2008 version of Phil Hughes: confidence. Last year Hughes (and Ian Kennedy as well) nibbled at the corners too much and pitched scared; they were afraid of contact and didn’t challenge hitters, digging themselves into deeper and deeper holes before the wheels finally came off. Last night was different for Hughes. He went after hitters and pitched with a plan. 

[snip]

What a difference a year - and a third pitch - makes.

Yes, it's only one start. But it was a good one, hopefully the first of many for Hughes this season. 

No Time Like the Present

After shelling out $243 million for pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett this winter, the third-place Yankees hand the ball tonight to 22-year-old Phil Hughes in a prematurely important game for the suddenly slumping Yankees.

Obviously, the season won’t be won or lost tonight. Even if the Yankees drop tonight’s game against the White Sox, there are still another 142 games left in the season, or five full months until October. Plenty of time. Hughes’ performance tonight, though, is significant because a good outing will not only allow him to cover for Chien-Ming Wang, who’s busy figuring a few things out in Tampa, but also take some pressure off the much-maligned Yankees pen. Although I’m not ready to go down this particular road, Hughes’ presence might also make a more compelling case for the Yankees to move Joba back to the bullpen if and when Wang returns to form, which, in addition to Mark Melancon, should give the Yankees a very solid collection of late-inning guys who can get the ball to the normally uber-reliable Mariano Rivera.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself here. Tonight’s game is important for Hughes. Since the Yankees drafted him in the first round of the 2004 amateur draft, Hughes has widely been considered a future ace for the Yankees pitching staff. The Yankees were so high on him, in fact, that General Manager Brian Cashman reportedly pulled out of a possible trade for Johan Santana last year because the Twins wanted Hughes, in addition to a number of other top-tier prospects. Thrust into the spotlight, Hughes wilted, going 0-4 last season with a 6.62 earned run average. He’s better than his numbers, though, showing promise in 2007, when he threw 6 innings of no-hit ball against the Texas Rangers—in his only his second career start—before pulling his left hamstring in the 7th inning on an 0-2 curveball. Later that season, after a number of physical setbacks, which kept him off the mound for most of the summer, Hughes relieved Roger Clemens in Game 1 of the American League Division Series against the Cleveland Indians, pitching 3+ innings to earn his first playoff win.

Tonight, after a few false starts—and a number of weird injuries—Hughes, still one of the youngest players in all of baseball, has another shot to show that his vast number of pitching tools translate to the majors. The so-called centerpiece of the Yankees' long-term plans has a golden opportunity to contribute right away. The future, it seems, is now.