Arizona Diamondbacks Have a Stud in Daniel Hudson

When the Arizona Diamondbacks traded Edwin Jackson for Daniel Hudson back in July, I thought the Diamondbacks got a steal. Even though he projected to be a No. 3 starter, I thought he could blossom into in a No. 2 starter pitching in the NL West.

What I didn’t think would happen was Hudson pitching like a No. 1 starter. Since coming over to the Diamondbacks, Hudson has been flat-out awesome!

After pitching seven innings of one-run ball on Wednesday night against the San Francisco Giants, Hudson moved to 5-1 and lowered his ERA to 1.91 in a Diamondbacks uniform. He also has a Greg Maddux-like 0.91 WHIP and is averaging 8.1 K/9.

Hudson is 6’4″ and features a fastball in the low-90s, a slider, and a change-up. His best pitch is by far his change-up. His change-up is thrown around 83 mph and has tremendous downward movement in the strike zone. He used his change-up to perfection on Wednesday night, especially to Cody Ross.

In the top of the second, Hudson threw two deadly change-ups down and away and then busted Ross in on the hands with a 92 mph fastball. All Ross was able to do was break his bat and hit a weak grounder to short.

The at-bat featured a pitch sequence that has been time tested to get batters out for the last 100 years. Soft down and away and hard up and in. While Hudson’s velocity isn’t the best, he can get away with a 92 mph because of his outstanding control.

With Hudson, Ian Kennedy, Joe Saunders, and Barry Enright the Diamondbacks have the makings of a solid starting rotation in 2011. Hudson might be the best of them all.

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