Players · H · Pitcher · 2018

Phil Hughes

Age: 32
B/T: R/R
Height: 6' 5"
Weight: 240 lb
Number: #65

Born: June 24, 1986 in Mission Viejo, CA, United States
MLB debut: April 26, 2007

dbWAR: -.4
IP: 32.2
ERA: 6.34
FIP: 6.59
K/9: 8.8
FIP−: 159

Phil Hughes was a relief pitcher for the San Diego Padres. In 2018 he struck out 32 batters over 32.2 innings across 23 appearances, going 0-0. His ERA of 6.34 was 52.7% higher than the league average of 4.15 — 17th of 20 on his team, and 489th of 530 among MLB pitchers with 20+ innings. Stripping out defence, his 6.59 FIP suggests the ERA was no fluke. He missed bats on 22.1% of swings (11.2% of every pitch he threw), walked 6.6% of the batters he faced and struck out 21.1%. His -0.7 dbWAR is built from that FIP rather than runs allowed, so it credits him for what he controls and not for the defence behind him.

League context

Percentile among qualified pitchers, 2018.

FIP6.59

K/98.8

WHIP1.65

WAR-.7

WAR by season

Pitching

Standard and advanced, by season.


2018	SD/MIN	23	2	32.2	0	0	44	23	32	10	6.34	6.59	1.65	8.8	2.8	153	159	-0.7
2017	MIN	14	9	53.2	4	3	72	35	38	13	5.87	5.43	1.58	6.4	2.2	135	125	-0.1
2016	MIN	12	11	59.0	1	7	76	39	34	13	5.95	5.08	1.51	5.2	2.0	142	121	0.1
2015	MIN	27	25	155.1	11	9	184	76	94	16	4.40	4.70	1.29	5.4	0.9	111	119	0.4

Batting

Standard and advanced, by season.


2018	SD	1	1	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	.000	0.0%	0.0%	.000	-0.3	-119	-0.0
2016	MIN	1	2	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	—	0.0%	100.0%	.000	-0.5	-116	-0.0
2015	MIN	1	3	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	.000	0.0%	0.0%	.000	-0.8	-123	-0.0

Platoon splits

How left- and right-handed hitters fare against him.

Season

Opponent batting by the side the hitter bats from, 2018. Counted from play-by-play, so totals can differ from the box-score season line by a plate appearance or two.
Split	PA	AB	H	HR	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	K%
vs LHB	70	60	19	4	8	16	.317	.400	.567	.409	22.9%
vs RHB	82	80	25	7	2	16	.313	.329	.625	.404	19.5%

Hot and cold zones

Batting average by pitch location, 2018.

Below averageLeague averageAbove average

Batting average by location of the pitch that ended each plate appearance, catcher's view. The bordered square is the strike zone; the outer band is chase territory. Cells with fewer than 8 at-bats are left grey rather than shown as signal. League average on the same attribution is .247.

Pitch sequencing

What Phil Hughes throws in each count, and what he follows each pitch with. Select any cell for the breakdown.

ShowBatter

Four-seamKnuckle curveCutterSinker

Select a count to see exactly what Phil Hughes throws in it.

Pitch arsenal

What he throws, how hard, how often it misses, and what hitters do with it.

Season


Four-Seam Fastball	55.5%	312	90.6	2,076	49.0%	25.0%	75	.347	1.176
Knuckle Curve	17.6%	99	78.4	2,385	40.4%	25.0%	21	.238	.476
Cutter	16.2%	91	87.2	2,084	49.5%	18.8%	29	.207	.605
Sinker	10.1%	57	89.8	2,044	42.1%	9.4%	14	—	—

Phil Hughes's arsenal by usage. Velocity is average release speed in mph, spin in rpm, and whiff rate is misses per swing — the cleanest single measure of whether a pitch beats hitters. BAA and OPS are what hitters did against each pitch, credited to the one that ended the plate appearance, and are left blank under 15 at-bats.

Head to head

Put Phil Hughes beside up to three others.

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Phil Hughes

Similar players

Nearest 2018 seasons by command, run prevention and role, on rate statistics rather than totals.

Matt AlbersMIL

ERA: 7.34
FIP: 6.31
SO: 32
WAR: -0.7

Yimi GarcíaLAD

ERA: 5.64
FIP: 6.34
SO: 19
WAR: -0.5

Dovydas NeverauskasPIT

ERA: 8.00
FIP: 6.72
SO: 27
WAR: -0.7

A.J. ColeNYY

ERA: 6.14
FIP: 6.12
SO: 59
WAR: -0.8

Comparable

How these are computed

wOBA uses linear weights measured from this season's own play-by-play rather than published constants, and wRC+ is park-adjusted against that same league. dbWAR is our own open implementation — not fWAR or bWAR — and the full derivation, including its simplifications, is on the methodology page.