Posada breaks down Phil Hughes
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Feb 17, 2007 
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Jorge Posada caught Phil Hughes today for 10 minutes and came away impressed. The kid throws a two-seamer, a four-seamer, a change, a curve and is working on a slider.
“He’s legit; he’s a no-doubter,” Posada said. “He knows he belongs in the big leagues and he acts like it.”
Posada said that at this time last season, Hughes was able to spot only his fastball every time. Now, he said, Hughes has command of his curve and change and he’s getting better with his slider, which is a new pitch for him.
“He’s buries the two-strike curve in the dirt like you’re supposed to and he throws a back door curve,” Posada said. “He throws his fastball, curve and change for strikes.”
Posada said Hughes reminds him of when he caught Andy Pettitte in 1993 when both were Class A players at Prince William.
“It’s that maturity, it just stands out,” he said. “The attitude, you just see it. He’s not cocky but you can see by the way he walks around that he belongs here. He acts like a big leaguer.”
Posada is not somebody to tosses around praise without thinking, especially about young players. If there is somebody around the Yankees who has any doubts about Hughes, I haven’t met them.
Uhhhh I’m so ready for the season to start. I can’t wait to see the Yanks and hopefully Hughes in action this season
That sounds great!
Po liked him last year, too.
actually the slide is not a new pitch fro phil coming out of HS it was his second best pitch and the yankees made him shelf it and learn a curve. He was just given permission last season and began sparingly throwing his slider again in trenton . I would imagine he needs to work on controling it because he hasn’t thrown it consistently since HS not because it was new.
What exactly is a back door curve?
Back door curve is the real Gyro Ball. Huge vs. Mat head to head- I can’t wait.
btw, Hughes had a plus slider in high school, but the Yanks took it away from him until he mastered his curve. He started mixing it in a little last year. So it’s not a new pitch, it’s an old pitch he’s trying to re-establish.
Phil threw sliders in high school and it’s not new pitch in his repertoire(in fact it was rated his best pitch according to Baseball America at the time). Nardi Contreras made him shelve it early in his professional career to concentrate on curve and changeup.
In his interview two years ago with Pinstripesplus.com, Nardi had explained that younger prospects would emphasize curve and change up (E.g., high school draftees and free agents from Latin America). If they can’t master those (e.g., Sean Henn), then they’d transition to slider/split/cutters later as they’re easier to master in his view. There is a school of thought among some pitching coaches that sliders and splitters tax a kid’s elbow more (especially during the teen years when their growth plates are still open). However, Nardi doesn’t believe that to be an issue. According to him, it’s merely technical consideration as if the mechanics are good, one pitch shouldn’t tax elbow/shoulder any more than another.
backdoor curve starts off the plate then drops back in for a strike.
thanks for the info guys, like JDnotDrew, I can’t wait for a Huges – DMat match up
The knuckle curve grip that Hughes, Clippard and Betances now use, is supposed to be easier on the arm than throwing a curve with a standard grip is.
I cannot wait to see Phil pitch at Yankee Stadium. He sounds like the real deal!! I’d bet we’ll see him before the All Star break.
T-clip is another pitcher flying under the radar with Phil around. He is also supposed to be a very good pitcher. I think i’ve read he is projected to be a 4 starter.
i dream of a phil hughes summer.
i mean that in a completely platonic sense.
the more i hear about this kid the more excited i get. it’s unreasonable to expect too much from anyone, but he really sounds like he’s got a great chance to be something special.
all in all, it’s a good time to be a yankee fan.
Hughes sounds great, and should make an impact with the Yanks for years to come. However, my two favorite Yankee prospects are Joba and Betances; they both have number 1 starter stuff and Betances has absolutely no ceiling. The Yanks pitching staff should be loaded for the forseeable future.
Hughes is the best pitching prospect in Yankee history, Pettitte was not even close to Hughes’s level when he was in the minor league.
Mark,
Expect Dellin Betances to be the next Phil Hughes. Our rotation is gonna be even more insane with Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy!
Esp w/ Brien Taylor knocking on the door…let;s not get ahead of ourselves w/ every prospect panning out. Though it would be sweet if they all do.
Good stuff on Phil!!!! He’s definitely the goods, but we just got to take care of that very young dynomite arm, but Phil can chuck for us at anytime!
While it’s true that on some level that there is no such thing as a pitching prospect, how is a career ending injury sustained in a fight relevant?
Rich, I am also a little confused by the Brien Taylor reference. I actually had no idea who the guy was but figured it out with a google search. Of course pitching prospects are prone to failure and injury; pitching is just a very unnatural thing to do. We need only look at Chris Garcia to see that pitchers are just as likely to be injured or fail miserably than they are to succeed.
Yes, Taylor was still in A-ball when he injured his hand/arm in a fight. he might’ve been a great pitcher, but that injury messed up his whole career.
Hughes was dominating AA last year, and could probably join the Yanks now as the #4 guy at worst. as for Betances, Joba and Kennedy, they have great potential, but they have yet to pitch in high A. then the big jump is AA. is they’re still succeeding then, I’ll be pumped as hell.
Re: Hughes’ slider, I’d heard Hughes was only throwing it on the side and not in games because it’s hard to command both a curve and slider in the same game. does he plan to use the slider long-term?
a backdoor curve, when thrown from a RHP to a LHB, is usually thrown to appear outside, then curves back into the strike zone.
A to A+ is often considered the biggest single level jump, though others do think it is A+ to AA.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....index.html
From Jon Heyman Si Article. Ohlendorf is overrated?
Cashman’s general plan to emphasize youth is probably overdue, and he’s drawing praise for importing young pitchers Humberto Sanchez and Ross Ohlendorf, in particular (although one scout claims Ohlendorf is “overrated). But a noticeable early casualty in Cashman’s plan is sentimentality. Cold, hard decisions can improve flexibility or save cash but can also lead to hard feelings.
Its great to hear Hughes has developed since last Posada saw him. The maturity thing is big too because a lot of good pitchers can struggle initially in the Bigs when they aren’t confident.
If anyone is interested, the second season of my fantasy baseball league is open and plenty of spots are available.
Its a free Yahoo league with mostly Yankee fans for managers.
Here’s the info to join:
League ID: 4146
Password: bigeast
Pete, your certainly welcome, of course!
I thought they sheved Hughes’ slider because of his earlier shoulder trouble..
if i remember right… there was some shoulder issue that shut him down in 05.. i maybe incorrect..
I never believe reports from anonymous scouts. Two years ago, there were unattributed quotes were saying similar things about Cano.
Hughes never really had shoulder trouble, he was shut down at his innings limit and people jumped to conclusions. Plus they took away his slider right after they drafted him and before he even stubbed his toe. They did the same thing to McAllister this year, who is a physical clone of Hughes, though he approached pitching differently than Phil did in HS. Nardi and the pc’s are using the Hughes blueprint for McAllister’s development.
We should have a contest….
predict when Hughes makes his major league debut.
Nice reporting Bro. Its so cool to be getting the inside story, direct from Posada. You are so lucky to get to talk with these players. Thanks.
Rich and Mark
I was thinking the same thing Luke was. Brien Taylor, Sam Milletello, Jeff Johnson etc; it has been very hard for the Yankees to develop pitchers and really Andy and Mo are about the only ones in recent memory I can think of.
All in all though, this crop seems better than any thing they’ve had in a long time, and I would say a couple of them would come through, especially Hughes if he doesn’t get hurt. I think Chamberlain is going to be a good one also.
Hughes should be considered even with Pavano and Igawa.If he were to make the rotation out of ST he should be babied early so that when Sept comes along its not OMG PHIL HUGHES HAS 190 INNINGS AND WE STILL HAVE THE PLAYOFFS
Given that Pettitte and Mussina are both a bit older and have recently had injury problems, as well as the fact that Wang had some health issues recently and of course Pavano is a walking injury, any chance the Yankees consider throwing a 6th arm into the rotation in the middle of the season if things are going well? Just to spell the older arms and give them more recovery time in between starts?
This is great to hear. I’m really looking forward to seeing Hughes – or Youse as I like to call him, being a Bronx native and all – pitch in the bigs. Hopefully we’ll get a chance this year…if not I can wait till next. It’s just nice to see a bright prospect in the future, the very near future.
Phil: you are right about innings restriction in 06 .. i was talking about 05 season..
Video of Rj Shows his frustration, Blame The Yankees Fans and Ny Media.
http://sports.espn.go.com/broa.....id=2769729
I’m Glad Rj is gone.
http://sports.espn.go.com/broa.....id=2769729
This is the correct link.
Steve,
Militello and Johnson were prospects at a time when the farm system didn’t have many real prospect (you forgot Wade Taylor, btw), so some of them were overhyped.
That wasn’t the case with Taylor, who was a LH pitcher that could throw a 98 mph fastball, and to a lesser extent it wasn’t true of Militello, but he threw across his body which caused an arm injury.
The Yankees now have quite a few high ceiling prospects. So while pitching prospects can be fragile, there is strength in numbers.
nathan, so was I. He wasn’t hurt in `05, he was just at his innings limit, and there was an eroneous report that his shoulder was sore.
Yanks also developed Sterling Hitchcock, Scott Kamenecki, Ramiro Mendoza, and Eric Milton back in the `90′s.
Ted Lilly and Jake Westbrook too.
i think the over-under on Hughes’ debut should be July 1.
Ted Lily has already pitched in the majors before the Yanks acquired him and Jake Westbrook was originally a Colorado draft pick.
In 1999, the Yankees acquired both Ted Lilly and Jake Westbrook in a trade that sent Hideki Irabu to the Expos.
Joeysdajoe,
Hughes would definitely be a better pitcher than Pavano.
I agree with you Rich. Strength in numbers at this time is higher than at any time I remember (and I’m old).
I was only counting guys that pitched for the Yankees for an extended period, and I should have included Ramiro Mendoza on that list. Maybe Kamenecki, he pitched quite a bit.
And Rich, I’ll call your Wade Taylor and raise you a Dave Eiland. Ah, the early 90′s. Don’t miss those years.
when will philip be called up to the big league . when will he be able to pick up for fantasy baseball.