Phil Hughes

One of the biggest factors in bringing up young players from the minor leagues is when they have done all they can do down on the farm. 

A young player who dominates his minor league-level over a couple-month period should be promoted to the next level. A player who dominates Triple A over a long period should also be promoted. 

No matter who is in the major leagues in front of him.

No reason to keep a young pitcher in Triple-A "for more seasoning" when he has filled up every spice rack in the country. 

Phil Hughes was absolutely dominant on Wednesday night against the Oakland Athletics. He had his best stuff of the season, possibly his career, last night as he came ever so close to no hitting the A's.

Hughes' control was terrific. His stuff was electric. The young pitcher took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before giving up an infield single to Eric Chavez on a ball hit up the middle that went off Hughes' forearm. Hughes could not find the ball in time and Chavez was on with the A's first hit of the night.

On Wednesday night, Phil Hughes made his second start of the season against the Oakland A's and was looking for an even stronger performance from his first start.

Any stronger of a performance, and you would have thought that it was Ron Guidry and not Hughes pitching on the mound.

In case you fell asleep before or during the game and think I am exaggerating, I am not kidding because Hughes in fact, was that good Wednesday night.

After two starts for every other New York Yankee starting pitcher, 23-year-old Phil Hughes made his first start of the 2010 season last night against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Hughes got the win, pitching into the sixth inning. He was good, at times overpowering, and also inconsistent.

Hughes struck out six but also walked five. He gave up only three hits, one of them a home run, and finished the game having given up two earned runs in five innings.

I know I mentioned it yesterday, but it's really worth repeating: We're less than a week away from Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season. Wow!

But with first pitch just days away, there is still a lot of preparation to be done, and I'm not talking about your favorite team deciding on their fifth starter. Nope, I'm talking about you making the final tweaks to your fantasy team.

So it was all for nothing.

The innings limits, the pitch limits, the extra days off between starts the Yankees forced Joba Chamberlain to undergo during the second half of 2009—that rendered him impotent come the playoffs—under the guise that they were "protecting his arm" so that he could at long last become a full fledged starter this season...it was all a lie.

Tossed aside because of 3 2/3 spring innings.

Manager Joe Girardi and the Yankees staff evaluated the entire spring training and came to the same conclusion I did: Phil Hughes should be the fifth starter.

Hughes beat out Joba Chamberlain, Alfredo Aceves, Sergio Mitre, and the recently released Chad Gaudin.

Girardi has been very impressed with the much-improved changeup that Hughes has been using and working on throughout the spring.

Chamberlain, Aceves, and Mitre are all now competing for spots in the Yankees bullpen. Nobody, including Chamberlain, is guaranteed a role. Each player will need to earn it.

This announcement doesn’t exactly come as a surprise, but Yankees manager Joe Girardi made it official today, Phil Hughes—not Joba Chamberlain—will be the Yankees fifth starter going into the season.

The Yankees have yet to make an official announcement, but according to Joel Sherman of the NY Post , in the next couple of days they will announce that the winner of the 5th spot in the rotation will be Phil Hughes :

The regular season is just a few weeks away and the Yankees roster is beginning to take shape. A few of the position battles are starting to clear up as players are released and sent to the minors.

The Yankees lost to the Phillies today as Phil Hughes gave up a game-ending home run in the bottom of the ninth. The home run was one of three given up by Hughes today. Despite the long balls, Hughes pitched very well, as he made batters swing and miss using his changeup.