The resurgence of Phil Hughes

[jacksonianmarch]

On May 1, a lot of Yankee fans, including myself, were calling for Hughes to move to the pen. At that time, Hughes was flashing a heater in the 93-94 range for 2 innings, then would drop off into the 80s and he'd get pummeled. At the time, Hughes was 1-4 with a 7.48ERA. The following start, he was okay, a quality start vs KC, but a strange thing happened in that game. Hughes maintained his velocity into the 6th, something he hadnt done all yr. Since that May 1 start, he has been an ace. His numbers are as follows

 

Pre-May 2- 5 starts 1-4 7.48ERA 21.2IP 28H 18ER 7BB 23K 7HR 1.61WHIP 9.5K/9IP 3.3K/BB

Post- May 2- 11 starts 8-2 3.34ERA 72.2IP 69H 27ER 15BB 66K 12HR 1.15WHIP 8.2K/9IP 4.4K/BB

 

In the meantime, Hughes has slowed down his curve and can locate it. He's sitting low to mid 90s and carrying it into the later innings. Plus, he's pitched into the 8th inning 4 times in those 11 starts. He's been an ace since his resurgence, and he is going to be leaned on heavily.

[Meh]

Hughes has been good, but he hasn't been at ace level...

[Rdsxmbnt]

Don't really see this stretch of his as ace level. For one he's still allowing a ton of HR and hits in general and his peripherals indicate he should be more at a 4.00 ERA level which seems more appropriate. Plus since I know how much you love to talk about opponent strength, he faced KC twice, SEA, WSH in that stretch and also imploded twice. Nice run but he seems like more of a #3, and still has to prove he can beat good offenses like Texas, Boston, and Toronto.

[example1]

On May 1, a lot of Yankee fans, including myself, were calling for Hughes to move to the pen. At that time, Hughes was flashing a heater in the 93-94 range for 2 innings, then would drop off into the 80s and he'd get pummeled. At the time, Hughes was 1-4 with a 7.48ERA. The following start, he was okay, a quality start vs KC, but a strange thing happened in that game. Hughes maintained his velocity into the 6th, something he hadnt done all yr. Since that May 1 start, he has been an ace. His numbers are as follows

 

Pre-May 2- 5 starts 1-4 7.48ERA 21.2IP 28H 18ER 7BB 23K 7HR 1.61WHIP 9.5K/9IP 3.3K/BB

Post- May 2- 11 starts 8-2 3.34ERA 72.2IP 69H 27ER 15BB 66K 12HR 1.15WHIP 8.2K/9IP 4.4K/BB

 

In the meantime, Hughes has slowed down his curve and can locate it. He's sitting low to mid 90s and carrying it into the later innings. Plus, he's pitched into the 8th inning 4 times in those 11 starts. He's been an ace since his resurgence, and he is going to be leaned on heavily.

 

You realize you sound silly, right? I mean, if I showed the same stats for Buchholz you would strongly disagree. A 3.34 ERA and 1.15 WHIP with less than a K/IP isn't an ace these days and you know it.

 

Also, I just looked at his stats. Again, you realize you sound silly, right?

 

In the time frame you discussed he has had one start with 7 ER and another with 6 ER. Also, he's faced Seattle once, KC twice and a bunch of other fairly mediocre offenses during the stretch. Let's see him shut down Texas, or LAA, or Boston a few times then we can discuss aceness.

 

At this point in his career, he has a 6.65 ERA in 46 IP against Boston, with a 1.652 WHIP. Color me not-yet-impressed.

 

edit: missed the post right above me... what Rdsx said.

[Emmz]

Lol, what about Morales now? You're just reassuring us all of what a homer you are.

[jacksonianmarch]

Morales has made 3 starts and hasn't started since 2009. Bringing him up in this thread is completely asinine

[Emmz]

It's asinine because that's convenient for you. It's the same principle, you get overly excited about your guy, Sox fans did the same and you act like they're just f***ing ridiculous. At least Morales has actually been pitching to those numbers, and improving on what has plagued him; Hughes is average and getting lucky. Stop being such pretentious toolbag and people might not floss your ass every time you get a boner for one of your guys.

[VA Sox Fan]

It's asinine because that's convenient for you. It's the same principle' date=' you get overly excited about your guy, Sox fans did the same and you act like they're just f***ing ridiculous. At least Morales has actually been pitching to those numbers, and improving on what has plagued him; Hughes is average and getting lucky. Stop being such pretentious toolbag and people might not floss your ass every time you get a boner for one of your guys.[/quote']

 

:lol:

[jacksonianmarch]

Offenses Hughes has faced

 

White Sox- 7th in MLB runs scored

Cleveland- 13th in MLB in runs scored

Atlanta- 9th in MLB in runs scored

Washington- 23rd in MLB in runs scored

Mets- 8th in MLB in runs scored

Detroit- 12th in MLB in runs scored

Angels- 10th in MLB in runs scored

Seattle- 22nd in MLB in runs scored

Royals- 25th in MLB in runs scored

 

He's faced 3 bad offenses and the other 8 have been above the mean. He hasnt faced a top 5 team, but he did just dominate the #7 team in the bigs. Not too bad. And for those Morales lovers out there, his 3 starts were vs the 29th, 28th, and 22nd offenses in baseball.

 

Also, a 3.34ERA and 1.15WHIP is an ace level performance. It's the same WHIP as Josh Beckett and woud put him right behind King Felix in ERA if he did it for the whole yr. BTW, taking into account the whole yr, Hughes is 11th int he AL in K/9IP and 4th in K/BB. The fact remains, he sucked hard in his first month and since then, he's been pitching at an ace level. There really isnt much doubt about that, even with his two sucko performances over that 11 game stretch