page_title: Phil Hughes
section_title: Scouting report
hierarchical_section_title: Phil Hughes / Scouting report
caption_attribution_description: Phil Hughes during pregame warmups prior to a game between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles on August 29, 2011
context_page_description: Philip Joseph Hughes is an American right-handed former professional baseball pitcher. He has played in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins, and San Diego Padres from 2007 through 2018. He stands 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 240 pounds. He was the Yankees' first-round pick in the 2004 MLB draft.
  During his time in the Yankees' minor-league system, Hughes was one of the most highly anticipated prospects in baseball, but his major league career was marked by inconsistency. He debuted in the major leagues in 2007 as a starting pitcher and quickly demonstrated his potential with a bid for a no-hitter in only his second MLB start. However, injury cut short his outing, as well as significant portions of his 2007 and 2008 seasons. Hughes began 2009 in the minors but later returned to the major leagues, eventually converting to a relief pitcher in June; pitching as a setup man for Mariano Rivera, Hughes excelled in the new role during the regular season. Despite his struggles in the postseason, Hughes won a championship with the Yankees in the 2009 World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies.
context_section_description: Hughes's pitch repertoire has varied over the years, although his main pitch has consistently been a four-seam fastball at 92–95 mph, and he has also relied on a spike curveball in the range of 73–77 mph. He has also developed a mid-80s Vulcan changeup against left-handed hitters, and in mid-2012 he developed a low-80s slider to right-handers.
  Hughes added a cut fastball in the high 80s as a weapon against right-handers in the 2008 season, and he used the pitch 16% of the time in the 2009 and 2010 seasons:
  It was something I was messing around with in rehab and figured could be a good equalizing pitch in fastball counts. It was basically a way to get some cheap outs. It was also a pitch that was easier for me to control than a slider. It's just a fastball grip with a little alteration, so it was easier for me to throw strikes with it. That was kind of the purpose to adding it in.
  By early 2011, Hughes's velocity on his fastball was down several mph; John Harper of the New York Daily News speculated that Hughes's overuse of the cutter was to blame, not a dead arm. Hughes continued to use the cutter into the start of the 2012 season; he posted a 7.88 ERA in April, throwing the cutter about 12% of the time in this span. In early May, Hughes dropped the cutter from his repertoire, using it only 1.2% of the time for the rest of the year.
  Hughes throws a disproportionate number of his pitches high in the strike zone and above the zone.
  Hughes asserts that the hamstring injury he suffered in his rookie year has permanently altered his pitching mechanics: "My stride, and things like that, have never quite been the same."
caption: Hughes in 2011
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS-1D Mark IV", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "200", "Image YResolution": "200", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2011:08:29 17:59:49", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "360", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "9896", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "11784", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "11968", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "2000", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:08:29 17:59:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:08:29 17:59:49", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "10", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "420", "EXIF SubSecTime": "32", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "32", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "32", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2686", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3483", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "9850", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "163200/43", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "816000/209", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}