A Hughes Improvement

BRONX, N.Y. — See that guy on the left?  That’s Phil Hughes, circa 2006. 

Now, that guy was good.  Really good.  He came to Waterfront Park as a 19-year-old and went 10-3 with a 2.09 ERA in 21 starts.  He held the opposition to a .177 batting average against, and allowed no more than two hits in his final seven starts.

And that’s just the regular season.  His one playoff appearance that year?  All he did was strike out 13 Portland Sea Dogs over six innings.  Not only were the majors a lock, so was utter dominance between big league lines.

However, in his first two seasons after leaving the Thunder, the likeable righty lost his way.  Injuries cost Hughes significant parts of 2007 and 2008, and even when he pitched well for the Yankees en route to a World Series title in 2009, that was primarily in a relief role.

Only now is he fulfilling all the potential it was so obvious he had back then.  Soon to be 24 years old, the California native seems to be well on his way to his first All-Star Game appearance, thanks to a 9-1 record and 3.11 ERA in his first 12 starts.  

So, when you ask Hughes himself what the 2010 version of himself has that the teenager didn’t…his answer?

A cutter.

“In 2006, I was mainly fastball-curveball.  I threw an occasional changeup, but that was still something that I was developing then,” Hughes said.

“This year, I’ve relied on my cutter a lot, which has become a big pitch for me.  I picked it up at the end of ’08.  I had a lot of time on the DL, and when I was coming back, I was just messing around with some different pitches.  I picked it up, and it was OK at first.  Then, it just got better and better and better.  Now, it’s a really big pitch for me.”

Now, when you think of a Yankees pitcher with a cutter, Hughes’ name is certainly not the first one that comes up.  That honor, of course, would belong to legendary closer Mariano Rivera.  As the story goes, just like Hughes, perhaps the most famous pitch in baseball came from just messing around one day. 

“When it happened with me, it was a blessing from the Lord,” Rivera said.

“I didn’t even try to throw a pitch like that, it just happened.”

For Rivera, the cutter went from something he was messing around with in 1997 with to something he mastered in the years that followed.  Unquestionably, if you want to know about the cutter…well, you know the slogan, you’ve gotta go to Mo.  And Hughes did just that when he was first learning the pitch.

“I think everybody’s talked to Mo about his cutter,” Hughes said.

“But nobody knows how he throws it or what exactly he does to make it move the way he does.  It’s like one of those great mysteries, like talking to Alex about how he hits the ball so far.  He’s like, ‘Well, I just swing hard.’  I don’t really think he knows how he does it.” 

However, the future first-ballot Hall of Famer wouldn’t take any credit for the success of Hughes’ new offering.

“I mean, it’s just him trusting it, I really have had nothing to do with it,” Rivera said.

“It’s learning.  He wants to be better, and that’s what he has done.  I think his commitment and his desire to be better, that’s what you have seen.  But I’ve had nothing to do with that.  We just talk, but his desire and will to do well, that’s why he is where he is.”

Not quite as mysterious as just how Rivera generates the movement he does with the cutter is the fact that he’s made a career out of throwing it.   Successful execution of the pitch itself entails gripping the baseball across the seams, similar to a four-seam fastball, but with more of an off-center grip.  The key to the cutter is the turning of the wrist near the release point, which gives it a fastball rotation and late cutting action.  Everyone knows that’s what Rivera throws, and nobody can seem to hit it. 

Certainly, with less than two full seasons of throwing the cutter under his belt, you’d think there’s no comparison between what Hughes throws and what Rivera’s been dazzling batters with for years.  So just how does Hughes cutter compare to Rivera’s?  Not only may Rivera’s answer on where it is now surprise you, his thoughts on what that pitch could become for Hughes might as well.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of difference,” Rivera said.

“Obviously, I have more control of it because I’ve been throwing it for many years.  But there will be a point where his will be the same if he continues throwing it.  It’s a great pitch.  If you’re able to learn it and throw it, power to you.”

For Hughes, the first step was learning how to grip the pitch similar to how Rivera does.

“Our grips are pretty much the same, but obviously his darts like a foot and a half, and mine is just a little cutter to get them off my fastball,” he said. 

“His grip is pretty straightforward, but I think if it were that easy for everyone, everybody would be throwing a cutter.  I talked to him a little bit about it, but there’s not really too much he can tell you.”

Jorge Posada knows a thing or two about catching a cutter, and when it comes to Hughes, he says there’s no hesitation in calling the pitch at any time.

“It’s a pretty good pitch, we use it pretty often,” Posada said.

“That tells you how good it is.  We have enough confidence that we can call it at any time.  He likes the feel of it and the way he’s been spotting it, so he’s good with it.  That’s probably the pitch that got him over the hump.”

While that may be the case, however, if you ask Posada, it seems Hughes’ cutter has a long way to go to catch up to that of his fabled closer.

“It’s different, Mo’s is unique,” Posada said.

“You can’t really can’t compare Phil’s cutter to his.  His breaks at the end, and with most of the guys, it starts at the hand.  So I really can’t compare them.”

Now, of course, it isn’t just the cutter that’s changed for Hughes since his four months in Double-A.  With age comes maturity, and now that he’s been able to stay healthy, experience has come as well.

“Overall though, I have a better idea of not only who I am, but how to get guys out and stuff like that,” Hughes said. 

“It’s something that comes with time.  The more experience you can gain, the better.”

Experience is something that Hughes had no shortage of in 2009.  He began the season as a starter, but was relegated to relief duty after just seven starts despite a 3-2 record and somewhat lofty 5.45 ERA.  While he excelled in the role — he put together streaks of 16 and 12 consecutive scoreless outings last season — there was some concern that having shuttled back and forth between roles three times in two seasons would have a negative effect.  Not so, says Hughes.

“For me, it wasn’t too bad,” he said. 

“I wasn’t really bouncing around too much.  I went from coming into spring last year as a starter, and then obviously with the way things happened, I was sent to the bullpen.  And then I became a starter again this spring.  It hasn’t been like a back and forth sort of act, because every spring training I’ve gone into, I’ve gone into as a starter.  Last year, I was just given the opportunity to go to the bullpen, and I was very thankful for that.”

With a set role seemingly set in stone for the rest of his career, however, Hughes can now solely focus on helping the Yankees win their record 28th World Series title.  Individually, he says, his goal for 2010 is to stay healthy.  Looking at the bigger picture, however, one of Trenton’s proudest exports has his eyes on the prize yet again.

“Obviously, the team goal is to win another championship, that’s what it all comes down to,” Hughes said. 

“Personal numbers and all that are great, but if we have a really good season and we go as far in the postseason as we know we can, all that other stuff will kind of fall into place.”

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com