Did Hanson just outpitch Hughes?
by davidsabin on Oct 25, 2008 9:11 AM EDT
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PrintIn a mini all-star AFL game, Hughes and Hanson squared off.
Hanson dominated his 3 innings with 7k's 0H, 2BB.
Hughes 3 inn with 3H, 4R, 1ER, 2BB, 3K, 2 HR; errors always suck, but that was a bad inning.
One could even argue that Hanson faced better hitters. It is going to be interesting to see what Atlanta does with him.
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Hughes just doesn't have anything other than a curveball
Hanson has a very good changeup, curveball, and throws a tick harder than Hughes.
To be honest
I never fell in love with Hughes… I generally saw him as a #2 or 3 type.
Anyways, He does show a very good curve and a pretty good changeup as well. He doesn’t seem to have anything great outside of those pitches. If he can really hone is command and stay healthy, his upside is very James Shields like. However, I think AJ Burnett is a good comp.
by METSMETSMETS on Oct 25, 2008 1:17 PM EDT up reply actions
Did you just use 1 game to ask whether one player is better than another?
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
Paul meet Braves
Tell me this isn’t the first time you’ve noticed him doing this crap.
"So's your mom"-David Sloane
No, it's davidsabin
I know braves is susceptible to the siren song of small sample size (heh), but the OP is (theoretically) a different poster.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
I guess the better question is....
is there anything wrong with Hughes?
he seems to have stalled in development.
If there is
Its been that way for a year+ or so. The reports on his stuff have been unimpressive for a loooong time now.
Could it possiblely be that
there a large market team prospect was more hyped than he should have been?
That never happens….
Truthfully, I think some of this has to do with too much hype, and some having to do with his injuries over the last year and some is just rust.
Nope
Any pitcher who puts up the numbers up he did over his entire time in the minors is going to get that much “hype” no matter the parent team. 2.35 ERA .092 WHIP and over 10 K’s per nine. He dominated the AA Eastern League in 2006 and continued all the way up to in AAA the next year. If he is healthy – he’s going to be one of the big stories in 2009. He hasn’t even pitched 130 innings in the majors yet – he’s been injured and never had a chance to show he can adjust the majors – I think he will and turn out to be at least reasonably close to what many thought he would be, if not meeting some of the loftier projections that were out there a few years ago.
Well, Im sure there is some truth to that
but his stuff USED to be electric and now its pretty blah… solid, not exciting.
Its not the numbers that concern me, but the scouting reports are way down on him….
his stuff has been blah
but it was pretty good when he was no-hitting the rangers in 2007, pitching well in the payoffs against Cleveland.
Injuries and stuff. But did he deserve a good rep before? Yes.
I traded Hughes, Spilborghs, and Koshansky to get Johan Santana this year, and glad I did. Actually, it was Hughes for Loney, Spilborghs for Rowand, Rowand, Loney and Koshansky for Ankiel and McCutchen, and Ankiel and McCutchen for Santana and Chris Perez.
To move this conversation in another direction
Just how good is Hanson? He doesn’t seem to be pitching to contact too well (2BB in 3 innings is never good), but then again, it seems contact is just a difficult thing for him to find. (7Ks in 11 batters faced. Wow.) He goes through these stretches where it just seems like he’s unhittable for anyone. The no-no last year is an obvious example, but following his stats this season, it seems like every other game, he’d dominate the opposition, like 6 or so innings of 1-hit ball with 8Ks and a walk. Other than a rough patch in his first few starts after moving to AA and then again after he went 9 in his no-hitter, it seems like his stuff has just overpowered his opponents. I sometimes wonder if he’s being underrated with too much attention being payed to his FB%.
+1
“I sometimes wonder if he’s being underrated with too much attention being payed to his FB%.”
Definitely. Alderson over Hanson in community list? I know folks love Anderson on those lists it seems, and some would pick Holland over him (I would), and Tillman (I prefer Hanson).
Hanson just seems capable of such dominance, and the AFL numbers (hey, everyone says it’s a hitters league) just seem to confirm it. Then again, he sems like Cueto, who burst out of the gate in ML this season then slumped. I can see that happening to Hason, but I still think he’ll be great (Cueto too, better than Volquez in the long run).
Speaking of poor scouting reports and poor stuff, this article came out today
Sherman: YANKS’ DECISION LOOKING BAD
He [Hughes] started the Rising Stars game and permitted four runs (one earned) in three innings, allowing two homers and walking two. One scout who has seen multiple starts in the AFL by Hughes offered this report from the Rising Stars game:
"His velocity was fine. He threw some at 93-94 (mph), but mostly he was in the low 90s, but the problem was that they were straight. He gave up two bombs and even the outs were mostly hard hit. He couldn’t command his fastball to the corners at all. Only about half his curves were good and only about one in four were in the strike zone. He is working to add that changeup (to use against lefties), threw three and all were up and out of the zone.
"I think the problem is that his elbow is too low so he is not commanding because he is not throwing downhill. His command stinks because his motion stinks. For example, his curve has good rotation and break, but I think because of that delivery it breaks early and so hitters pick it up."
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10262008/sports/yankees/yanks_decision_looking_bad_135306.htm
Thank you
saw something similar a few days ago. I think this is why he is pitching there in the first place. He has the talent and the tools, he just needs time to sharpen them to where they were before the injuries. If he’s still doing this a few months in to the season, it will be time to give stuff like this much more weight – if not start closing the book on him. I think he’ll improve tho…
That was the opposite of my point
Im not ready to close the book on him, but his stuff has looked like this for a year or so now… its a legit, serious concern.
Does he have the talent/tools anymore?? Im not sure that’s clear at all. It sounds like he’s majorly messed up. Further, the curveball stuff (last paragraph) is even scarier to me – that kind of makes sense… that’s the sort of thing that fools the league the first time around and always fools AAA hitters, but MLB hitter adjust to and lay off when a pitch has a “tell” like that.
Not really opposite
what I’m getting at is that he will be able to correct that “tell” as he should be able to fix his motion IMO. Maybe not, but I think he has a good chance of doing so.
Remember what Carlos Gomez of Hardball times said
He said that Hughes will have decreasing velocity from here on out and that was from last year.
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