FORT MYERS, FLA. – Twins righthander Phil Hughes on Saturday threw four scoreless innings in a minor league game.
Big deal. It was against Class A Salem. The bigger questions are if he is healthy, serious about throwing more changeups and ready for the regular season.
Hughes said he was as he prepared to fly back to the Twin Cities on Saturday night.
"You don't take too much from the results here," he said. "Overall, I feel good."
Hughes has said that he wouldn't pay attention to his velocity until the end of camp. The radar gun Saturday had Hughes' fastball at 89-91 miles per hour. The 30-year-old, who has topped out at 92 this spring, had been hoping for it to increase a little more, but he is ready to go with whatever he's got.
"That's what it has been, 90-91," Hughes said. "Obviously I'd like for it to be tick higher than that, but that's not necessarily a problem. Plus you get a little tick once the adrenaline kicks in when the season starts."
It could be important. Hughes has thrown dozens of changeups this spring as he plans to make the pitch a big part of his repertoire for the first time. When he throws it hard, around 84-85 mph, it stays up in the zone and is a batting practice pitch. When it's 81-83, it's down in the zone with good movement and forces missed swings. Hughes has dealt with both of those outcomes this spring.
If his fastball is around 90-91 mph, he will need that changeup to be no higher than 82-83 mph. A variance of at least 8 mph is desired to throw hitters' timing off.
