Yankees starting pitcher, Phil Hughes hasn't been the same pitcher he was last year. After beating out Joba Chamberlain for a spot in the starting rotation, winning 18 games, and becoming an all star, Hughes came into 2011 with his velocity down and after 3 games, 10.1 innings pitched, and posting an 11.94 ERA he finds himself on the disabled list trying to find a way to get back his velocity. His fastball last season could hit up to 96 mph, but in 2011 he was averaging about 89 mph and peaking at 92.
There's no explanation for such a drastic change in Hughes' velocity. He came into spring training healthy and there's nothing wrong with his arm. After performing so terribly in 2011, the Yankees placed him on the DL with a dead arm and will undergo arm strengthening exercises such as long toss to get his strength back. He hasn't pitched since April 3rd.
He threw in a bullpen session on April 25th, but it was cut short after around 20 pitches becuase Hughes had shown no improvement. Therefore, the decision has been made to shut Hughes down until some tests can be done and he sees some specialists to try and figure out why his velocity has disappeared. He's supposed to be out for 6-8 weeks.
Hopefully Hughes comes back soon because who knows how long either Freddy Garcia or Bartolo Colon will be successful. But either way it's hard to replace an 18 game winner . I was hoping for an even better season for him since he wouldn't be as limited as before, but now I just hope he comes back into the form he had last year. He's a future pitching star for the Yankees if he can recover. Fortunately he's young, only 24, so he has plenty of pitching left in his career.
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