Facing a right handed hitter should be the strength of a right handed pitcher. A reverse platoon split is a rare find in baseball, and occurs when a pitcher has better numbers against opposite-side hitters than same-side hitters. Our very own has spotted one of the worst reverse platoon splits in [...]

Back in early March I made a bold prediction, Phil Hughes would be the number two starter. April didn’t bode well for my dark horse pick, the 25 year old right hander produced a 7.88 ERA with batters hitting .329/.395/.658 against him. There were occasional glimpses of brilliance on Hughes’ side, but no one [...]

With the elimination of the cutter from Phil Hughes’ repertoire, he’s become a three pitch starter who, at times, looks completely reliant on the fastball. If you’re unfamiliar, the 26 year old throws a four-seam fastball, a curveball, and a changeup to lefties. Since removing the cutter from his repertoire, Hughes has pitched to a [...]

Yesterday at RAB, Joe mused wonderfully about and his troubles putting hitters away when he’s up in the count:

One result of Hughes’s control is that he often works ahead in the count. He has faced 341 hitters this year, of which 83 have gone to an 0-2 count. [...]

The Yankees rotation has certainly found their mid-season form, but no pitcher has improved more than Phil Hughes. Yesterday, TYA co-founder Larry Koestler mentioned that Hughes has reinvented himself during the last month, and brought up some differences he spotted in the PITCHf/x numbers. The velocity and movement on the fastball has certainly evolved from [...]