Where did Hughes' velocity go?
BOSTON
As Phil Hughes stood in front of his locker Friday patiently discussing how his fastball has gone AWOL, the makeshift nameplate suddenly detached from the top of his clubhouse stall and ricocheted off his head.
Forgive the Yankees righthander for admittedly feeling as if the world is closing in on him. He's trying to survive with a fastball that has gone from being his out pitch to simply out of commission, and it's not going well.
Although he didn't take the loss, Hughes gave up six runs and seven hits in two innings against the Red Sox, paving the way for the Yankees' 9-6 defeat. His ERA after two starts is 16.50. "For whatever reason, it's come along slowly," he said, "and it's kind of a helpless feeling."
He knew from his first few pitches Friday that this was not going to be the day his fastball returned to the 92-to-94-mph range, so he did the only thing he could think of. He all but abandoned it.
Of the 47 pitches he threw, only nine were fastballs. This, remember, is a pitch he has thrown 64 percent of the time throughout his career, according to fangraphs.com.
In place of his fastball, he went with the cutter, throwing 30 of them. Mariano Rivera taught him how to grip the pitch during his stint in the bullpen two seasons ago, and Hughes said he threw a couple of good ones Friday, breaking a bat or two. But it wasn't good enough to fool the Red Sox for long.
"You've seen him try other things and survive with it, which is tough to do," pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. "Changing midstream for a young pitcher is not an easy thing."
The cutter has always been a change-of-pace type of pitch for Hughes. But with no confidence in his fastball, he felt it was his best chance to succeed, which is an ominous sign for a guy facing high expectations after an 18-victory season.
Manager Joe Girardi said it's much too early to consider skipping Hughes to clear his head, so he'll be back out on the mound next week. And Hughes has no idea if he'll find his fastball by then. "If I had a timetable, I'd let you know," he said. "I'm just as lost right now."
Catcher Russell Martin has no history to go by with Hughes, but it's telling that he thinks Hughes is overthrowing to generate velocity. That's the only reasonable conclusion Martin can come up with to explain why Hughes has regularly struggled to locate his hard stuff.
"It just looks like he's trying to overcompensate right now," Martin said. "It looks like he's kind of searching for a couple more miles per hour."
Girardi said he has faith in Hughes because of the "big steps" he took last year, but Hughes did struggle during the second half last season.
In his final 23 starts, Hughes had a 5.05 ERA in 1351/3 innings, which was masked by his strong start and overshadowed by A.J. Burnett's bigger problems.
So even when Hughes gets his fastball back, who's to say he won't be the same pitcher who posted a 5.05 ERA beginning May 17 through the rest of last season?
That's not something the Yankees want to deal with now. First Hughes needs to find his velocity, which is the far more pressing issue. The only solution Girardi, Rothschild and Hughes have come up with is to continue having him long-toss between starts, hoping it will stretch out his shoulder.
"I think it's temporary," Rothschild said. "I don't think this is something you're going to see all year. At least I hope not."
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