
"Phil Hughes spent the afternoon looking at photos of himself from last October, when he shut the Twins down in Game 3 of the AL Division Series, pitching seven scoreless innings. Hughes was comparing those photos with ones from his Sunday start against the Tigers, when he gave up five runs in four innings and his velocity dipped below 90 miles per hour for most of the day. The 24-year-old said he thinks he and pitching coach Larry Rothschild found some things to correct in his mechanics: namely, his head positioning and his arm swing being too long. Hughes also said he plans to do more long tossing before his start Friday afternoon in Boston."

The best part about this revelation is if they can figure out that mechanics flaw now and correct it, that's a major part of Phil's problems. Next, of course is velocity and confidence. For velocity, yes, long tossing strengthens the arm, my concern is, wasn't Hughes conditioning this Winter and Spring also? Are you going to sit there and tell me he was and he STILL can't touch 92 mph? There is alittle concern from me with this velocity thing. Hopefully this is just a speed bump.
Hughes said: "It's impossible to know why, I really have no idea. I know it didn't just disappear. I feel healthy."

I have faith in our Yankee staff and I know Hughes will get right. After all, a former 18 game winner can't fold like that, right?
Look for the Pyramid of Pitching Dominance to start taking shape in Phil's next outing and he'll be on the right track by his 4th start. It's a process, but what isn't in Yankeeland... perfection is the name of the game, isn't it?
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Roth is gonna figure this out. I honestly think Eiland and Hughes got caught up in those Clemens comparisons and he needs to get back to basics with his mechanics and Roth is the guy to do it.
ReplyDeleteI just think it was a bad outing or something... Or because he's used to Posada a dominating catcher but as Mattingly85mvp said, it will be fixed. He's a good kid with a good arm and he'll be just fine. He just can't over analyze it or it will get worse.. Just go with the flow and he'll be fine.
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