What to Make of Phil Hughes
After last night’s loss, Phil Hughes’ spot in the rotation is quite possibly in jeopardy. Hughes looked lost on the mound, surrendering run after run. It was much of the same from Hughes and, after the game, when asked about what went wrong, Hughes had the same somber look on his face and the same ol’ story.
He didn’t have his fastball command, he threw his curveball too often, he was overthrowing, all of these things sound rather familiar, primarily because we hear it after every single game that he has started in. Many fans say that he’ll work things out and he’ll eventually learn how to overcome his problems, however, judging from what we’ve seen, I don’t know if that’s the case anymore. I too used to think that Hughes just needed a couple of starts to find himself and figure things out, but he looked strangely vacant last night and his confidence was questionable. He simply looked bad out there.
Of course, after last night’s start, every paper in NY is debating what will happen to Phil Hughes. Most writers like Joel Sherman or John Harper think that Hughes needs to be sent down in order to regain his confidence, fix his mechanical issues, and figure things out away from the NY pressure, which is mounting after every walked batter, every loss, and every 3rd inning exit. Right now, I actually agree with these guys. It’s sad to say because I have a lot of confidence in Phil Hughes, but, at this point, I don’t think Phil Hughes has confidence in himself. He looked defeated last night and that’s not necessarily healthy for a 21 year old starter that’s still learning how to pitch. Hughes’ early exits have also hurt our bullpen, a bullpen that has been particularly strong when we’ve needed them to pick up the pieces for a few innings.
Darrell Rasner has been dominant at Triple-A, thus far. With Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman being especially vague with their comments about Hughes’ rotation future, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a chance while Phil figures things out in the minors (where the game is a lot “slower”).
What do you think?
April 30, 2008, 7:26 pm at 7:26 pm
I agree that Hughes needs to go down. He is actually seems personable and likeable, so I hate to see him struggle like that, but the performances don’t lie. I don’t pretend that Rasner is the answer, though. We have seen him before, and if he were so good, he would have at least made the team in the bullpen as a long man (he did get a look in Spring Training if you remember). Still, anyone with limited potential can take a loss equally as well as the next guy. Hughes has too many upside to combust irreparably by the end of May.
April 30, 2008, 9:10 pm at 9:10 pm
Rasner actually learned a cutter this year to compliment his curve. He’s truly dominating with it and he has an ERA under 1.00, so he might be a stopgap until Hughes gets himself worked out.