How do I know that this will not truly be the “Last Word on Phil Hughes’ Fastball” around here?

If it’s the 1st post for a new member, and the haven’t activated their account yet, the post gets held up until I can approve it. Also, some posts, because of the IP they’re coming from, get held up as SPAM until I can de-SPAM them and have them posted, FYI.

Nothing to do with the topic, but why it is with WordPress comments seem to appear non-chronologically? Like there will be five comments here for hours, and then a few will pop up as being from much earlier, but were not there at the time it’s stamped?

Nick, see:

http://waswatching.com/category/contact-me/

Your last point Steve is of course the key one that we have been harping on all along. For Hughes, it won’t matter how hard he is throwing if he can’t control it. That was never the kind of pitcher he was (clearly our opinions weren’t enough to convince you though). There are many many many “aces” who do the same, sit 91-93 and occasionally ratchet it up to 95 when they need to. Its about the quality, control, movement, and life.

But, I would also like to point out, the extreme vagueness with which those scouts use terms. What does sitting 91-95 mean, exactly? Thats a huge range. Technically, in his last two starts or so, Hughes has been doing just that, throwing mostly 92-93, and occasionally going 94. Isn’t that “sitting 91-94?”

Blah! I sort of wish I could go back and edit that hypocrite comment. No offense, Steve. Maybe I should have just stuck the word “irony” somewhere and left it at that. Hypocrite is kind of harsh.

Okay, so Steve is telling us to not obsess about his fastball and just leave the kid alone and let him pitch. Even though he was obsessed with his velocity and wouldn’t let the issue die — beating it to death until the point where fans of this site were calling him out on it daily.

I won’t use the word hypocrite, because last time I did he got really pissed off at me.

Of course, I must have said a million times on this site that waiting for Hughes to throw 95 was moronic, because he didn’t throw 95. Like I said back in April (and numerous times before that):

“Your original conclusion was the correct one: Hughes never sat at 95 mph. Eiland himself said when Hughes was coming up that he threw 90-94. So for the most part you’ll be seeing Hughes throwing 91-93, with the occasional 94 or 95 thrown in, and when he pitches on these hopped-up guns (like the one that had John Maine hitting 97 on Fox) he’ll be in full, fake mid-90s glory.”

Someone got this data on NoMaas:

Last year, Hughes’ average fastball was 92.27mph. Santana’s was 92.75. Hamels’ was 91.86. Brandon Webb: 89.6. Halladay is 92.74. Lackey was 92.22. Harang is 90.73. Bedard is 92.35.

so would early career Mike Mussina be the kind of pitcher we hope Hughes turns out to be with his stuff?

Also, Steve, how do I contact you? I had a question/suggestion for a post and I can’t find the contact info on this page (maybe I’m an idiot and it’s right in front of me?) Sorry to be off-topic.

One of the biggest problems with assessing velocity is the source of the measurement. In recent games, Gameday which is reputed to be more accurate than radar guns, had, for example, Wang hitting 96-97 when the YES gun had his fastball up to four or five miles slower.

Gameday had Hughes’s fastball a couple of miles faster than the gun readings that YES showed during his last start in Baltimore.

Phil’s biggest problem this season has been command and not throwing his secondary pitches enough.