Posted by Matthew Whipps on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 5:35 pm

It wasn’t that long ago that Phillip Hughes was one of baseball’s biggest and most highly touted prospects. Not only did he have a stellar track record as an amateur and minor league pro, but he also had an incredible arsenal of pitches at his disposal. He was every organization’s dream.

But after an up-and-down career as a starting pitcher for the New York Yankees, it was becoming more and more difficult for the young right hander to find a spot on the big league club. That was until they Yankees needed a new set-up guy.

There has never been any question that Hughes has the stuff to be a big time major league pitcher. But for some reason he has never been able to grasp the consistency to stick in the Yankees rotation. Here’s a look at how Hughes has broken down on the mound as a game has gone on…

As you can see Hughes has not made the necessary adjustments as the game has gone on and as he faces hitters even as soon as the second time through the lineup. Of course part of this falls on Hughes but one has to wonder why the Yankees coaching staff hasn’t better prepared Hughes and taught him how to make adjustments as the game progresses. I for one have never been a fan of how the Yankees organization handles young pitching and their obsessive control of pitch counts. But that’s a story for another day.

In the mean time Hughes has been able to fill the role of set-up guy for Mariano Rivera. This has been a huge, gaping hole in the Yankees bullpen for quite some time. It has almost been a rebirth for Hughes as his fastball has shown more life (averaging 91-92 in his starts this year and 95-96 out of the bullpen), his curve his showing more bite and he is helping bridge the gap to Rivera and essentially giving opposing teams no hope for the final two or three innings rather than just the final.

Here is a look at how he has done as a reliever versus a starter…

Looking at that you can see how lights out Hughes has been since taking over as the late innings guy. Hopefully this can be a learning experiment for Hughes and either be a transition tool back to the starting rotation or as a passing of the torch to Hughes to step in as the legendary Mariano Rivera’s replacement.

I guess only time will tell.

If you would like to contact Baseball Daily Digest writer Matthew Whipps, creator of The Diamond Cutter, you can reach him via email at whipps15@gmail.com.