Gabriel Hughes-Gonzaga-RHP

Name: Gabriel Hughes

Position: RHP

Commit: Gonzaga University

Arm Slot: H3/4

 

Pitch	Velocity	Present	Future
Fastball	90-94 T96	45	55
Changeup	77-80	40	50
Curveball	70-73	30	45
Slider	80-85	45	60
Control		40	45

Physical Description: High waisted, nearly filled out lower half, sloped shoulders.

Mechs: H3/4 arm slot, side wind up, aggressive arm action with explosive arm speed, minimal back leg drop,

Abilities: Has really hard bite to his slider, two plane movement that crosses the entire plate at times. Primary K pitch, can bury it backfoot on lefties. CH tunnels well off of the FB, has kills spin and can generate S&M from lefties. FB shape is a bit generic presently, but it at times has a wicked tail and is hard to lift.

Weaknesses: FB shape doesn’t miss a ton of bats, CB and SL can run into each other and don’t always have a defined shape; aggro arm action gives him a bullpen feel. CB is more of a get me over pitch, not much bite to it but the shape is interesting (12-6 mvmt).

Summary: 

Hughes is a pop up arm this spring whose draft stock has benefited from the unfortunate injuries surrounding the college pitcher class this season. That said, Hughes should not be under looked as a pro prospect. Despite a pretty aggressive motion which leads to some bullpen risk, he has a starter repertoire and command, along with being a solid athlete and a bulldog on the mound. Primary offspeed right now is his slider, which is a true K pitch and flashes plus, that goes along with his CH that works well against lefties. FB is average, can run it up velo wise but the shape is fairly generic. CB isn’t much presently, but the vertical shape is different than the rest of his repertoire (east-west) so there is some utility there, with a possible drawback being that he throws it from a different arm slot that is pretty obvious (more below). In total, he has a lot of positive traits, and with sliders being so popular now, I expect him to be a top college arm this year.

Something that was noticeable while watching full speed and then even more noticeable when looking at the high speed was that he tends to release his breaking balls at a higher arm slot than his fastball. His slider is released a bit higher, but the CB is thrown nearly over the top.

Video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8as1Yaq4kM&ab_channel=TheProspectPipeline