JARED HUGHES
7/4/85; '06 4th; Long Beach State Univ.
R/R; 6-7, 235
| Level |
W-L-Sv |
G |
GS |
IP |
H |
HR |
BB |
K |
BB/9 |
K/9 |
WHIP |
OAVG |
ERA |
| 2004 NCAA |
0-1-0 |
6 |
6 |
20.2 |
21 |
0 |
13 |
12 |
5.7 |
5.2 |
1.65 |
|
4.79 |
| 2005
NCAA |
8-3-0 |
15 |
14 |
89.0 |
67 |
3 |
23 |
87 |
2.3 |
8.8 |
1.01 |
|
2.83 |
| 2006 NCAA |
8-4-0 |
15 |
15 |
108.0 |
97 |
3 |
33 |
77 |
2.8 |
6.4 |
1.20 |
.237 |
3.67 |
| 2006
A |
5-4-0 |
10 |
10 |
48.1 |
46 |
6 |
31 |
25 |
5.8 |
4.7 |
1.59 |
.250 |
5.77 |
| 2006 A- |
1-2-0 |
5 |
5 |
23.0 |
14 |
2 |
7 |
11 |
2.7 |
4.3 |
0.91 |
.179 |
2.74 |
| 2007
A |
8-9-0 |
27 |
27 |
145.1 |
162 |
11 |
54 |
109 |
3.3 |
6.8 |
1.49 |
.281 |
4.64 |
| 2008
AA |
2-2-0 |
6 |
6 |
31.0 |
35 |
4 |
16 |
18 |
4.7 |
5.2 |
1.65 |
.278 |
4.94 |
| 2008
A+ |
3-9-0 |
21 |
21 |
105.2 |
108 |
7 |
50 |
54 |
4.3 |
4.6 |
1.50 |
.269 |
4.60 |
| 2009
AA |
1-6-3 |
17 |
7 |
46.1 |
55 |
1 |
16 |
36 |
3.1 |
7.0 |
1.53 |
.296 |
3.88 |
| 2009
R |
0-0-0 |
3 |
3 |
6.0 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
1.5 |
7.5 |
0.67 |
.158 |
1.50 |
Hughes was considered one of the top prospects in the country as a HS junior, but his stock fell badly with a mediocre senior season. He went to Santa Clara, but struggled and, in the wake of coaching changes, transferred to Long Beach State, where he was the #1 starter in 2006. He was not overpowering in college, as the mediocre K rate shows, and mostly relied on getting ground balls. He throws four pitches that Baseball America described as average or a little below, including a low-90s fastball and a slider. Hughes fit the Pirates' fascination under Dave Littlefield with groundball finesse pitchers who nibble around the strike zone, allow large numbers of baserunners, and don't strike out many hitters. They had little success with such pitchers in the majors, but that never seemed to faze them.
Hughes signed shortly after the draft and has performed true to his profile. He was effective in 2006 at Williamsport, not allowing many hits but sporting a low K rate. At Hickory, he struggled badly with his control, walking more than he fanned. At both stops he was an extreme groundball pitcher (ground out to fly out ratio of 4.09 at Williamsport, 3.07 at Hickory). Just the same, he allowed HRs with an above-average frequency at Hickory and LH batters slugged over .500 against him there. He returned to Hickory in 2007 and spent the whole season there, which by itself is a bad sign for an early round draft pick out of a major four-year program. He continued to sport a below-average K rate, allow a lot of baserunners, and get a lot of groundballs, although at only a 1.65 ratio. He did not improve over the course of the season. Just the opposite: his ERA was 3.20 in the first half and 6.00 in the second.
Hughes opened 2008 at Lynchburg and continued
mostly along the same lines. He didn't give up quite as many hits, but
he increasingly struggled with walks due to his tendency to nibble. His BB/K ratio
went from fairly good to poor. He did get more groundballs, with a 2.47
ratio at Lynchburg. In a late season promotion to Altoona he pitched the same
as at Lynchburg. He had a huge platoon split at both stops, although
one-year splits can be misleading. He had only a modest split in 2007. He opened
2009 in the Altoona rotation and actually started to show considerable
progress through seven starts. Unfortunately, he went out in
mid-May with shoulder problems and didn't return until early August. He pitched solely
in relief after returning and struggled. In fact, it makes sense to divide his
season into the seven early starts and ten late relief appearances, because the
differences are so dramatic:
| |
IP |
BB/9 |
K/9 |
GO/AO |
OAVG |
ERA |
| Starting |
28.1 |
3.2 |
6.0 |
1.67 |
.245 |
1.91 |
| Relieving |
18.0 |
3.0 |
8.5 |
1.27 |
.363 |
7.00 |
The ERA as a starter is a little misleading because eight
of the fourteen runs he allowed were unearned.
Hughes will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this fall, but
he's unlikely to get selected. The Pirates will probably try him again in
the Altoona rotation in 2010, unless he gets crowded out by prospects coming up
from Lynchburg.
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