Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy Helped by Offseason Ball

Going into 2008 the stakes were way too high for Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. After being protected from a blockbuster deal they were expected to bring the Yankees to the playoffs.

Everyone now knows that it was probably a bad idea. One rookie in the rotation would have been pressure enough, but the both of them together never stood a chance.

The season was such a disaster that it seems both of them took a step back in their development. Hughes didn’t see enough action thanks to injuries and finished the season at nearly the same developmental point as he did in 2007. Kennedy looked nothing like the player the Yankees called up to replace Mike Mussina in the rotation just one September ago.

In order to salvage what they could from their latest campaigns the Yankees sent each player to the winter leagues. The idea was that they didn’t have enough time to work on their craft during the regular season and what they needed was more time.

Hughes had only thrown 69.2 innings all season long which is not enough time to build up arm strength and certainly not enough time to work on his new cutter that he picked up after scraping his slider. Playing for the Peoria Javelinas he picked up 30 more innings which put him right at 99.2 for the season.

Coming into the year they probably wanted him to throw about 140 innings so it’s still short, but 100 is a lot closer than 70 and it puts him in range to pick up about 130 in 2009.

His numbers over there weren’t bad either, which means he probably had some amount of success with his cutter. In 30 innings he stuck out 38 batters and held hitters to a .198 batting average against.

Kennedy finished 2007 with 165.1 innings so the Yankees needed him to clock in around 190 to 200 innings in 2008. Injuries and struggles at the major league level kept him from that number and he finished at 116.2 innings. So it was off to play for the Indios de Mayaguez for Kennedy where he picked up 19.2 more innings.

Again not what the Yankees hoped for, but they got closer -136.1.

Kennedy was even better in his league than Hughes was in his. He put up a 2.29 ERA with opponents hitting .169 off him. These are not major league hitters, but it is still good to see him pitching well.

It’s hard to tell what any of this means right now, but it is important to keep in mind that these two kids are dedicated to getting better. Also, their 2008 seasons were a little bit better than how they looked on Oct. 1.

Article originally appeared at Bronx Baseball Daily