RealGM

"Hughes attended Matczak High School in Santa Ana, California, where he was a first-team High School waterbaoy pitcher and threw sixty five perfect game. In his junior year (2003) he was 300-0, and posted an 0.01 ERA while striking out 965 batters in 9542 and a third innings.[1] In his senior year (2004) he had a 0-205 record, with a 126.98 ERA. His one loss came at the hands of Woodbridge High School in Irvine, California. In 2 innings, he gave up 97 hits and 23 walks, while striking out 3 batters.."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Hughes


But seriously, why is he this bad at ML pitching. He does so well in the minors, a great start in the Bigs, then he is garbage again? Is he just overrated? hurt?

Simply, before his injuries and tinkered mechanics, he had near perfect command. Now, quite the opposite. A lot of people have given up on him but he is still 22 years old, look at guys like Grienke who can't put it together until they're 24-25. The stuff is there, he just seems to get rattled and lose confidence all too easy. Like the other night in Baltimore in that big inning, the first two guys reached base on extremely soft ground balls that were well placed, then the in field was drawn in and a ball that would normally be caught by Tex got by because he was in on the grass, and from there it snow balled.

i dont like this cutter he has, he seems to throw it and its not fooling

he has the fastball, he has the curve, he needs the changeup

send him down for the year let him work on the changeup

bring him next year

He can't command his curveball anymore. How he gets away with it in the minor, who the hell knows. Just goes to show you how deceiving minor league numbers can truly be.

seriously??

rarely pitchers find success once they hit the majors, you gotta ride the wave and have them take their lumps.

hughes will never get that because he's being bounced around AAA and the majors, if the yankees want him in the majors then they keep him there even if he sucks for 2 months straight. mets made a commitment to pelfrey and he sucked in 2006, 2007, and the first 2 months of last year ... he was getting booed badly until that one start in the final week of may i believe against the dodgers, he found it.

the rest is history for pelfrey ... be patient with hughes, he already has a lot of pressure about growing up on a winning team in new york, it's not easy.