[新聞] NY Yankees' Phil Hughes has abandoned changeup in role a

[leddy (耿秋)]

http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2009/07/ny_yankees_phil_hughes_has_aba.html

    因為Phil Hughes現在的角色是後援，所以已經放棄丟他的變速球。

    他的變速球很爛，他自己描述是"可用"的程度，但Eiland則評為"低於平均"。

    因為投第七局或第八局，他兩種plus的球路四縫速球和曲球就夠用了。只是如果他未
來要成為先發，他仍然要練好他的變速球，問題是現在是在大聯盟而且投的是late
innings根本沒有讓他犯錯的空間。

    Hughes表示以他個人的目標是想成為一個成功的先發投手，但目前留在牛棚則想幫球
隊贏得世界大賽冠軍。但是未來要成為成功的先發，他還是必須練好他的變速球，才能面
對打線中強力的左打者，當然他還是會投cutter，那也是可以有效對付左打者的球路，

    如果他現在留在小聯盟，他可以繼續練好他的變速球，只是現在他是七局或八局的後
援投手，將沒有這個機會。因為他的變速球控制不好一投高，馬上被打掛飛得老遠。
　　
    Mark Newman表示，當球季結束後，球隊將會作一些選擇，讓他可以練好他的變速球，
可能是冬季聯盟，或是春訓的比賽。

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看來本季投不滿的局數，應該會利用冬季聯盟補足，同時練變速球。只是洋基今年將他留
在牛棚，變速球不僅沒練到，狀況還有點到退，真是有點可惜。
　

NY Yankees' Phil Hughes has abandoned changeup in role as reliever
by Marc Carig/The Star-Ledger
Friday July 17, 2009, 6:00 AM

Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes is viewed as a future starter. No matter the
results this season out of the bullpen -- so far the 23-year-old has been
dominant -- general manager Brian Cashman insists there is no temptation to
keep Hughes as a reliever.

"None," Cashman said recently. "Zero."

Yet, when he is again a starter, Hughes will need to keep refining what is
still a raw changeup, one he will eventually need to throw well enough to
navigate lineups stacked with left-handed hitters. But despite this need,
it's a pitch Hughes has eradicated from his repertoire as a reliever, meaning
he is losing valuable time toward its development.

It is an example of long-term sacrifice to fill an immediate need, a trade
the Yankees are willing to make to fix a bullpen that had been ailing.

Hughes has been a revelation, posting a 0.98 ERA in 13 relief appearances.
Though he was eased slowly into the role, manager Joe Girardi has
increasingly turned to Hughes in high-pressure spots, namely the eighth
inning. In what are considered high-leverage situations, Hughes has limited
opponents to an on-base percentage of .182.

But in the meantime, Hughes admits efforts to improve his changeup are "on
the back burner."

"He's going to find a way to develop that changeup," said Mark Newman, the
Yankees' vice president of baseball operations. "But I'll tell you what he's
getting: major-league game experience in tough situations, under duress,
against the best competition on the planet. As he does this, he gains
confidence, and that is huge."

Hughes' work as a reliever -- combined with the emergence of the versatility
of Alfredo Aceves and the continued dominance of Mariano Rivera -- has turned
the Yankees bullpen from an unreliable wreck to an emerging strength.

It is an area that will prove critical as the Yankees begin the second half
of the season in control of the wild card, but still chasing the Red Sox, who
enjoy a three-game lead in the American League East.

"The goal is to win a championship," Hughes said. "My personal goal of being
a successful starter down the road is just personal. I feel like we've got a
team right now that's capable of winning a World Series."

But there is a price to pay for reshuffling the Yankees bullpen.

Though Cashman and others stop short of calling it a must-have pitch -- A.J.
Burnett and Roy Halladay are among some of the league's pitchers who have
enjoyed success without throwing many changeups -- they say an effective
change would round out Hughes' repertoire as a starter.

"It's certainly a weapon that I will need," he said.

For right-handed pitchers, the changeup is a useful weapon particularly
against left-handed hitters because of the pitch's tendency to move away from
them. For power pitchers, Hughes said, it can function as a sort of safety
net on days when other secondary pitches aren't as sharp.

"I think when a guy with a good curveball and four-seam fastball is on, he
can dominate a lineup, and go through them eight, nine innings like that," he
said. "But I think it's when you don't have your best stuff that the changeup
comes into play."

But, throwing an effective changeup is often a matter of feel, and Hughes
doesn't count himself among the blessed.

He regards his changeup as "usable" at best. Even with the work the pitcher
did to refine the pitch in spring training, pitching coach Dave Eiland called
it "below average." This season, that doesn't figure to change.

Like most relievers, Hughes has relied mostly on two pitches, a riding
fastball and a curveball, which used together gives Hughes an effective
put-away combination. He also still throws his cutter -- a pitch he can
command with more regularity -- which is also a nice weapon against
left-handed hitters.

Had he stayed in the minors, Hughes could have kept throwing the changeup in
game situations, where the real learning of pitches takes place. But as the
primary bridge to
Rivera, he does not have that luxury for now.

"My changeup, if I miss over the plate, can be a pitch that gets hit a long
way," said Hughes, who still practices throwing the pitch when he does
flat-ground work before games. "I don't want to get beat by my fourth pitch."

When the season is complete, Newman said the Yankees will have choices about
how to proceed with developing the pitch.

"There's doing it postseason in some kind of workout environment," Newman
said. "There is the winter ball option. There is an early spring-training
option. ... There's several ways to do it."

Hughes said he's not worried about picking up the pitch again once the season
is over. But until then, Hughes said his focus remains on the short-term,
which in this case is shoring up the Yankees bullpen.

"Being in the bullpen and helping us win now is priority No. 1," he said.
"Everything falls in after that."


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◆ From: 61.225.149.5
※ 編輯: leddy           來自: 61.225.149.5         (07/18 01:20)
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推 FBLZA:專練卡特不會比練兩種好嗎?尤其是隊上有Mo的情況
→ willie666666:卡特又不是人人都投的好...
→ willie666666:不然CC在隊上...怎麼沒有大家變速球都投很好？
→ cha122977:問一下 大弟是放棄滑球了還是忘了  或者還在封印=___=?
推 heacoun:封印到忘了= =
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