Hughes Making Progress in Rehab

“I felt good,” said New York Yankees right-handed pitcher Phil Hughes after a 61 pitch rehab appearance for the Staten Island Yankees. “I kind of struggled there in the first inning,” referring to the base-loaded jam he found himself early on in the game.

The young pitcher made his first ever appearance in the New York-Penn league at the home of the Brooklyn Cyclones in Coney Island, NY. Hughes pitched in front of a crowd of 7,966 going four and a third innings before being lifted after a monster home run by Nelfi Zapata. Over all he allowed three hits and a walk while striking out seven of the batters he faced. His velocity in the game was consistently in the low 90s, hitting a top speed of 95.

Hughes was originally scheduled to pitch another game down in Tampa but due to off days the Yankees decided to send him up to New York. He seemed to have enjoyed it, “Pitching in this type of atmosphere is going to give anybody a shot of adrenaline and a couple MPH to your pitches.”

Phil is expecting to make at least one more rehab appearance in five days with the Trenton Thunder in New Britain but will remain in New York and work out at the Ballpark in Staten Island until the big club comes back into town this week.

Robert M. Pimpsner

Robert joins Gotham Baseball after spending 7 1/2 years as the owner and senior writer for Baby-Bombers.com providing independent coverage of the Staten Island Yankees and their alumni for thousands of visitors. In July of 2009 he joined Gotham Baseball, bringing his coverage of the Baby Bombers.

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