Shortly after 3 p.m. yesterday, Phil Hughes walked into the bullpen at Yankee Stadium hoping to take the next step toward returning to the Yankees’ starting rotation.
Minutes later, Hughes walked out discouraged and unsure of when he will pitch again.
Hughes cut the bullpen session short when he felt “deadness” in his right arm after throwing around 12 pitches. Hughes met with Dr. Christopher Ahmad, the team physician, before Monday night’s game with the White Sox and he will undergo MRI exams on his shoulder and elbow Tuesday, as well as a circulation test.
“It’s something I’m worried about,” Hughes said.
The 24-year-old went on the 15-day disabled list on April 15 after he struggled through his first three starts with reduced velocity. Both Hughes and the Yankees have said they do not believe the right-hander is injured, and as of 5 last night, he had not undergone an MRI exam.
When the Yankees placed Hughes on the DL, they said they hoped he would be able to use the time off to rebuild his arm strength through a number of long-toss and bullpen sessions. Hughes made about 90 throws Saturday in Baltimore and was encouraged. The plan was for Hughes to make a minor league rehabilitation start Thursday if yesterday’s session went well. Instead, the Yankees are left wondering when Hughes will return.
“Because everything was going so well you were encouraged,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Now this is a setback. You’re not quite as encouraged as you were before.”
Hughes played long toss in the outfield with bullpen catcher Roman Rodriguez yesterday afternoon with pitching coach Larry Rothschild and teammate CC Sabathia looking on. Hughes then took the mound in the bullpen, where he said the same problem that has been bothering him cropped up again after a few pitches.
Hughes said he does not feel pain, but it feels like his pitches have nothing on them. He likened it to the feeling you get in your leg if it gets hit hard and goes numb.
“It was just the same, the same as before,” Hughes said. “It just felt like nothing coming out, and I didn’t bounce back off that long bullpen session like I would have liked. So that’s where we’re at. Just a lot of deadness after the first 10 or so. We’re just going to take a couple days and rest it and reevaluate it from there.”
The Yankees are mystified by the cause of Hughes’ loss of arm strength. He won 18 games in 2010 and made the All-Star team. At this time last year, he was averaging about 93 miles per hour on his fastball and topping out at 95. This year, he has struggled to maintain 90 mph.
“[I haven’t seen this] to this extent and this length of time,” Rothschild said. “It’s kind of new territory for everybody.”
One theory is Hughes’ 2010 workload caused this. Hughes threw a career-high 192 innings last year between the regular season and postseason. He also competed for the fifth starter’s job in 2010 spring training, meaning he had to push himself. The Yankees were careful not to abuse Hughes: They skipped some of his starts and carefully managed his innings, but he still threw 46 innings more than he had previously as a professional.
Hughes reported to spring training this year out of shape, but the Yankees have maintained that is unrelated to his current problem.
Everyone, including Hughes, is left searching for an answer.
“I was really hoping that [my arm] would bounce back great, and I’d be able to get out and go pitch in a game,” Hughes said. “So for it to feel the same way, it’s discouraging, but it’s better that it happens now and not when I go start a game, because I’d have to start from square one again. So I just need to kind of figure out what’s going on and go from there.”
Additional reporting by Tim Bontemps