On the immediate Yankee horizon, there’s Octavio Dotel, the rehabbing righty recovering from elbow surgery who last night sought his next one-inning step toward helping form the bridge to Mariano Rivera.
And on the maybe-not-too-distant horizon, there’s righty Philip Hughes, the untouchable gem of the farm system who is steadily progressing toward a spot in the Yankee rotation.
Both Dotel and Hughes created excitement here this week for the Yankees Double-A affiliate Trenton Thunder Dotel was scheduled to pitch one inning, 24 hours after Hughes threw five brilliant shutout innings. Hughes collected nine strikeouts with breaking balls that buckled the Binghamton Mets and a fastball that reached 94.
Dotel, who had an 11-pitch effort Saturday in Tampa, was scheduled to come in after starter Matt Childers. And regardless of what Dotel, 32, who underwent June 2005 Tommy John surgery, managed in his cameo rehab stint, he was going to be hard-pressed to top the buzz created by Hughes.
“He’s a special kid. That’s about the only way to put it,” said Thunder manager Bill Masse. “He’s going to be a good one.” Hughes reaffirmed that Monday when he surrendered three hits and one walk among his nine Ks.
“He just froze guys with his curve,” one scout said. At 20, Hughes continually shows why the Yankees hang up when his name is mentioned in trade talks.
“I haven’t heard it from anyone high up in the organization,” Hughes said of the untouchable label. “So you never know what’s going to happen. They may get a deal that’s too good to pass up.” Doubtful.
Hughes has won three straight and is 6-3 with a 2.57 ERA. He is on an 80-pitch, five-inning limit, designed to keep him at around 150 innings on the season. Including his A-ball stint, he’s at 107 innings.
That arm is a tad too valuable to risk.
“He’s got four pitches that are average to above average. For a kid who’s just 20 years old, he shows a lot of maturity. He was overpowering here [Monday],” another scout claimed. “His curve is a plus pitch. Has a slider, an average change. He throws strikes and gets it down. I’d say he’s going to be a big part of the Yankees rotation in a short while.” Hughes insists he has no projection for a Bronx arrival. His main concern, in the interim, is polishing his off-speed stuff.
“I just work on little things,” the 6-5 Hughes said. “It’s a developing process. I need to work on stuff every time out, whether it be locating my breaking ball, getting better command of my changeup. I’d like to have a good feel for that. It’s come a long way since the beginning of the season.
“That’s definitely a huge tool and will be especially [big] when you go to Triple-A and the Big Leagues. As far as advancing levels, I really don’t try to think about it much.” Yankee fans will do that for him.