SI.com on Phil Hughes

[kdrupp09]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20140528/phil-hughes-minnesota-twins-new-york-yankees/

 

SI has a story up about Hughes' transformation since coming to the Twins. A stat really jumped out at me, in May, Hughes has thrown 90 percent of his pitches as either fastballs or cutters.

 

 

For much of his time in New York, Hughes said, his repertoire was a work in progress, as he struggled to supplement his fastballs with the breaking balls that he thought every successful starter needed. For a while, he was throwing a lot of curveballs; then he tried a lot of sliders. This year, though, especially after his first three starts, he decided that it no longer made sense to pitch in the way he thought an effective starter had to. Instead, Hughes figured that he might try pitching as he had during his most successful spell as a Yankee, back in 2009 when he was primarily a setup man to

Mariano Rivera; in 44 games in that role that season, he had an ERA of 1.40

 

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20140528/phil-hughes-minnesota-twins-new-york-yankees/#ixzz3322fEpDm

 

It is a nice article, hopefully Hughes can continue this success.

[nicksaviking]

That's interesting, particularly because the Twins have always seemed to be pretty reliant on off-speed pitches.

[Mike Sixel]

And they supposedly wanted Garza to throw less fastballs......it is interesting! Thanks for posting.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I wonder how much of this aggressiveness is the result of playing under Rick Anderson.

 

Hughes has become a strike-throwing machine and we all know how Anderson feels about strike-throwing machines, even ones that don't throw very good strikes.

[JB_Iowa]

Thanks for posting this ....

 

it was also interesting to read RandBall's post about the Hughes/Suzuki strategy shift after the first two innings last night:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/260931751.html

 

Very encouraging to see him making adjustments.

 

I'd read earlier stories about how Hughes likes to throw to Suzuki. This is one of the areas where the "tension" between getting a young catcher like Pinto experience comes up against the need for a pitcher who is somewhat reinventing himself to feel comfortable with his catcher. In the case of Hughes, the Twins have clearly decided that its more important to get/keep Hughes on track. Given his 3-year deal, it's hard to disagree with that.

[kdrupp09]

Thanks for posting this ....

 

it was also interesting to read RandBall's post about the Hughes/Suzuki strategy shift after the first two innings last night:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/260931751.html

 

Very encouraging to see him making adjustments.

 

I'd read earlier stories about how Hughes likes to throw to Suzuki. This is one of the areas where the "tension" between getting a young catcher like Pinto experience comes up against the need for a pitcher who is somewhat reinventing himself to feel comfortable with his catcher. In the case of Hughes, the Twins have clearly decided that its more important to get/keep Hughes on track. Given his 3-year deal, it's hard to disagree with that.

 

 

I really enjoyed the breakdown Randball's post did of the types of pitches Hughes threw after the 1st and 2nd innings. That type of adjustment is key for him to continue to be successful.

 

Having Suzuki catch Hughes and Hughes be successful is more important than getting another start catching for Pinto. Plus it appears to give the Twins a better chance to win.

[Hawkeye12]

And they've already sort of committed to Pinto catching Deduno regularly to help his progression. Now if they can figure how to make Nolasco click.

[kdrupp09]

And they've already sort of committed to Pinto catching Deduno regularly to help his progression. Now if they can figure how to make Nolasco click.

 

Having Nolasco click would be fantastic, all of a sudden the Twins have 3 strong starters plus Gibson, who can be good when he is on, which will help bring the starter ERA down.

[Seth Stohs]

So, as we pointed out on last night's Twins Hangouts, Phil Hughes has essentially become Mariano Rivera (pitch-usage-wise).

[Brock Beauchamp]

So, as we pointed out on last night's Twins Hangouts, Phil Hughes has essentially become Mariano Rivera (pitch-usage-wise).

 

More than a little ironic that he played for years alongside Rivera but only after leaving the team did Phil start to pitch like him.

[John Bonnes]

Thanks for posting this ....

 

it was also interesting to read RandBall's post about the Hughes/Suzuki strategy shift after the first two innings last night:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/260931751.html

 

Very encouraging to see him making adjustments.

 

I'd read earlier stories about how Hughes likes to throw to Suzuki. This is one of the areas where the "tension" between getting a young catcher like Pinto experience comes up against the need for a pitcher who is somewhat reinventing himself to feel comfortable with his catcher. In the case of Hughes, the Twins have clearly decided that its more important to get/keep Hughes on track. Given his 3-year deal, it's hard to disagree with that.

 

Thanks very much for posting this. It's very interesting to see that kind of in-game adjustment so clearly.