Hughes: Dirtbag with an Attitude
by Bob Keisser, Long Beach Press-Telegram
May 12, 2006 Jared Hughes can usually be found wearing an infectious, ear-to-ear smile that invites people to say hello, introduce themselves and start a conversation, often perhaps just to find out what he's so happy about.
Except, however, when he's on the mound at Blair Field or any other collegiate diamond, at which time the smile evaporates and he becomes the Dirtbags' latest Lethal Weapon.
"I try to have fun. I'm just a happy guy off the field," Hughes said with his trademark grin while bantering about the Dirtbags, great major league stars with a reputation for tattooing batters, and the NBA playoffs. "But I'm very competitive. If I don't have my best stuff, I'm going to be mean. Even if I do, I'm still going to be mean. I just execute my pitches better that way."
Hughes comes into his start tonight against UC Santa Barbara at Blair having put himself on the list of ace pitchers to emerge during the Dirtbag era, an assembly that includes several major leaguers, including 14-year veteran Steve Trachsel and the Astros' Mike Gallo, and another handful of prospects who will arrive in the majors soon, featuring Jered Weaver and Abe Alvarez (see charts).
He's 15-5 in his two seasons with at least three more starts left, and to say opponents do not look forward to him is a bruising understatement. His career opponents average is .213 and he's set single-season (19) and career (37) school records for plunking batters.
Hughes' weapon is a two-seam fastball that can leave batters with a shaky leg or a bruised one. Because of his height, 6-7, his two-seamer starts out looking like a straight fastball but then breaks in to right-handed batters. When he changes speed on the pitch, it can also dramatically break low and away.
Which is a nice combination to have. The records he's set for hitting batters may look eye-popping, but it's been a function of his best pitch having so much movement and the trend in college ball for batters to crowd the plate. It's never been an issue for the coaching staff.
"One pitch to the other, his fastball can move much differently," head coach Mike Weathers said. "That's what a good two-seamer does, move side to side. Because of his body and arm angle, the downside is that the pitch can run in too much. But it's a great pitch anyone would love to have."
Baseball America ranked him as the 29th best college prospect six weeks ago, and he's probably moved up a few spots since. Also armed with a four-seam fastball that tops out at 94 miles per hour, a slider, curve and change, he'll be no less than a second round pick.
When he arrived at Long Beach two seasons ago, he had no idea where his career was headed. He transferred from Santa Clara after an unproductive freshman season and was guaranteed nothing when he transferred to work with Weathers and assistant Troy Buckley, one of the top college pitching gurus in the nation.
"I was just hoping to help the team," he said. "Whatever they needed me to do bullpen, start, long relief. When I got here, I wasn't even sure I'd be eligible or if I'd have to sit out a season. So here I am (at 15-5). It's worked out even better than I could have imagined.
"Coach Buckley and coach Weathers have really taught me the game. I've always had the two-seamer, since little league. My dad taught it to me, and he'd catch me in the bullpen and I'd throw it over and over again. He always said if I could throw it low and in to right-handers, I'd be in the majors.
"Buck taught me how to fine-tune the pitch and develop what I already had, as well as a pitching philosophy. He has us write papers on our outings, and he critiques our work and tells us what we need to do better. It's really been a teaching situation."
After going 8-3 and earning Big West second-team honors last season, Hughes went to play for Chatham in the summer Cape Cod League and dominated hitters, going 7-0 with a 1.62 ERA and taking a perfect game into the ninth inning of one win. "I took what Buck taught me to the Cape," he said.
Since his breakout game of 2005 a complete-game four-hit, one-run win over Fullerton he's been amazingly consistent, having allowed three earned runs or less in 18 of 22 starts. He's gone at least six innings in every start this season, and there were circumstances, like shaky defense behind him in some of his lesser efforts.
He's become exceedingly good at overcoming a shaky inning, which more often than not has been the first. "I'm too amped up," he said. But he's been almost unhittable in the middle innings this season.
"He's come so far," said Weathers. "The knock on him coming out of high school (Santa Margarita) was that he was soft, that he didn't know how to compete. But we've never seen that.
"He has a legitimate chance at the majors because he's learned how to do that. He understands his body now, which was hard because he's so big and gangly, and he knows how to make adjustments during a game."
"After the Fullerton game (last year)," Hughes said, "I realized that even if I didn't have my best stuff, I still knew how to figure out what worked for me how to approach the other team."
Opponents, meanwhile, have learned it was easier to get hit by Hughes than get a hit off him. |
