Hughes Makes His Third Rehab Appearance With Great Results !

Phil Hughes pitched again for the Trenton Thunder this afternoon with impressive results.  No different than his first two outings, his velocity was in the low to mid 90’s all afternoon.  Especially impressive today was his command, which kept his pitch count low and the batters swinging.  Ultimately Hughes pitched 6 1/3 innings allowing only 3 hits while striking out 8 batters.

Today’s outing for Hughes was a giant step in the right direction following his lackluster performance against New Haven on Friday.  In his previous start he didn’t have the control or accuracy with his fastball, which caused the results to suffer. On Friday Hughes was only able to pitch into the third inning with mediocre results.  Mediocre is not what the Yankees hope to see when Hughes is pitching to Double-A batters. 

Today was much different though.  Hughes dominated the first 6 innings of the game striking out 8 in those 6 frames.  Of the 88 pitches he threw for the day – 61 were strikes, indicating his command was spot on.  Just as important was his economical pitch count which through 6 innings was 67 pitches.  Hughes’ velocity was typically around 91-93 mph but he did top out at 94 mph a few times through the afternoon.  Even when he was out in the 7^th inning, he was still hitting 92 mph. 

Hughes came out for the 7^th inning but seemed tired and was ultimately pulled after giving up a single and a walk. All in all, things are on the right track for Phil Hughes.  The Yankees have said he will pitch at least one game in Triple-A which should come this weekend.  From there it’s anybody’s guess as today was an impressive outing.

My guess is that he will pitch two games at the Triple-A level before getting called back to the majors.  Since Bartolo Colon is likely back with the yanks this weekend, the team will have 5 quality starters.  With Hughes on the roster he would be the 6^th starter, and the Yankees have already said that Hughes will not be in the bullpen this season.  So that leaves the Yankees with a 6 man rotation.  It seems likely the Yankees will try to buy some time before bringing Hughes back in order to give him one start right before the All-Star break.  It also wouldn’t hurt to get Hughes’ pitch count higher.  He will likely pitch 100 pitches in his next start and from there he should be stretched out to 110 or more depending on the situation.  If he continues this progress, I think we will see a great second half for Hughes.

You Can Read About Hughes' First Rehab Start HERE

You Can Read About Hughes Second Rehab Start HERE

UPDATE - June 30:  Cashman spoke yesterday about Hughes' progress and stated that Hughes is ready for the big leagues.  He indicated that Hughes may not even need another start down in the minors, but the Yankees will have to make a decision whether they want to stretch him out further before calling him back up.