New York Yankees' RHP Phil Hughes OIP Pitching Mechanics Breakdown

Phil Hughes: Better suited to be a Starter or Reliever?

That is the proverbial mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma because he has the mental make up to be a successful starter, but is lacking the mechanics to be a big innings eater in the rotation. This will be one of those questions that’ll have to be addressed after the season...the kind of question that organizations are faced with when addressing what’s best for the organization and what’s best for the player. From my experience, the New York Yankees do put a high priority on doing what’s best for their players, and they do this better than any organization in baseball.

Phil has not purged himself of some of the mechanical issues that's affecting him once again this season, i.e., he’s a bit of a short armer which affects his endurance, the amount of movement on his fastball, cuts down on the potential leverage on his new harder curve, and has not changed his shallow follow through which prevents him from having the more desirable shoulder to shoulder rotation for improved control.

One very important and notable mechanical change he seems to have made is that he has softened his deceleration phase in his follow through. This change is a real plus because a hard deceleration causes wear and tear on the arm- especially the shoulder. This should help him to alleviate any additional damage that can potentially happen because of the other mechanical flaws Phil is working through. Although, his deceleration was never as violent as Jim Bouton or Darryl Kile’s deceleration phase of their delivery, it was just a hard enough of a recoil to see he was heading possibly to a shorter career via circulatory and rotator cuff problems.

RE: Phil’s new, improved faster curve…

The ball may be gripped more with his finger tips and fingers now instead of closer to his palm. Being farther out on his fingers, that’ll also allow him to have more flexibility in his wrist. With more flexibility, he’ll be able to get his thumb to come over the top more efficiently when snapping off his curve. As an extra pitching note, getting the ball out farther on the fingers increases the velocity of any type of pitch-not just the curve. Conversely, any pitch grip that is choked or closer to the palm-reduces velocity.

OIP Breakdown Numbers:

Leg Extension: -6

Hip Rotation: -10

Follow Through: -12

Short Arm Delivery: -8

Deceleration: -5

OIP 2013:  41%