Phil Hughes

Entering Monday, many pundits believed Phil Hughes had all but locked up the fifth starter's role in the Yankees rotation, but by 4 p.m., everything grew a bit hazy again.

Coming off a solid three inning, three strikeout, one run performance against the Phillies on Wednesday, Joba Chamberlain, Hughes' main competitor, again pitched well in an intrasquad game. He allowed two runs on six hits and struck out one over five innings, reportedly displaying a good changeup and improved velocity.

Here's a quick 3:15 video of Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes discussing the grips he uses on his pitches and some of the different change-up techniques he’s using.

The video was shot by Marc Carig of The Star-Ledger .

The spring training statistics of the five guys battling for the fifth spot in the rotation (in order of least to most likely to win the job):

Chad Gaudin

0-2 (W-L), 7.71 ERA, 3 GP, 2 GS, 7.0 IP, 9 Hits, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 HR, 2 BB, 4 K

Career as Starter: 21-28 (W-L), 4.72 ERA

Going into spring training, the Yankees were trying to figure out who their fifth starter was going to be.

The two favorites going in were Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain, with Chad Gaudin, Sergio Mitre and Alfredo Aceves as the longshots.

It's already the middle of March, halfway through the 2010 spring training season, and I am making a case now as to who the fifth starter should and needs to be starting now and going into the future.

Hughes needs to be made the fifth starter and Joba to be put back into the bullpen for good. It's where he really belongs.

The biggest news out of the New York Yankees spring training camp so far this spring has been the battle for the fifth spot in the club's rotation.

Among the five men battling for the spot, three stand out to me as potential starters for the Yankees come April. Those men would be Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Alfredo Aceves.

After the first few weeks only one has stood out as a potential fifth starter and that is Alfredo Aceves.

The battle for the fifth starting spot on the Yankees is up for grabs this spring. While in all reality there are about five players in contention, many believe it will come down to either Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes, with the "loser" moving to the bullpen.

As the spring games roll on, the focus is going to shift greatly to the pitchers, where there are quite a few interesting battles brewing.  Let’s take a look at how things played out in today’s games:

If the competition for the Yankees' No. 5 starter's spot is truly a five-man race, frontrunners Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes would currently rank fourth and fifth on the depth chart.

After Chad Gaudin, Sergio Mitre and Alfredo Aceves each turned in two scoreless innings of work in Wednesday's spring opener against the Pirates, Hughes and Chamberlain both struggled in their first outings on Friday.

The Yankees began their 2010 Grapefruit schedule with three pitchers entwined in what the Yankees label a "competition" for the last spot in their rotation.

Chad Gaudin, Sergio Mitre, and Alfredo Aceves each pitched two scoreless innings in their first game action of 2010. 

However, regardless of their performance over the next month, I have a hard time believing the Yankees will break camp with one of those three as their fifth starter.

Bottom line, the Yankees are the defending World Series champions.

I think they have a very good shot for pulling off the repeat. The Yankees lost Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, Melky Cabrerea and a great prospect in outfielder Austin Jackson, however they did bring in Curtis Granderson, Javier Vazquez, Randy Winn, and Nick Johnson.