Gabriel Hughes On Fast Track to the Majors

In his first professional season after being drafted 10th overall by the Colorado Rockies in the 2022 MLB draft, Gabriel Hughes threw a total of 106 pitches over the course of six innings for the Fresno Grizzlies.

Sure, there were plenty of other pitches thrown by the 21-year-old Hughes during his time as a member of the Arizona Complex League and Low-A Grizzlies. Those pitches, however, were thrown in live batting practice and other sessions where they won’t show up in a box score or highlight reel.

While those off-the-radar pitching sessions will help build mechanics and a foundation for the rest of his professional career, it’s those 106 pitches spread over six innings (three in the regular season and three in a playoff start) that not only fed the massive appetite Hughes has for competition, but also gave him his only highlights to use heading into the 2023 season.

“Six total innings. I relished that,” Hughes said as he reflected on his first taste of being a professional pitcher. “I’ve gone back and watched those six innings and 106 pitches. I’ve gone back and dissected them. I’ve looked at every single one and looked at how they could have been better.”

That’s part of the competitive nature of the former Gonzaga University pitcher, who has compared the fire he brings to the mound with some of the more emotional pitchers in the game today, including Max Scherzer.

“I absolutely am a win-every-single-pitch type of person because I’m out there throwing every single pitch with conviction,” Hughes said. “When I step on the mound, my mindset is ‘good luck’ for the hitter because I’m bringing my ‘A’ game. I’m thinking ‘good luck’ to the hitter, because I’m on and you’re going to have to do something spectacular to win this pitch. For me, I’m always thinking every single pitch is a battle. Every single pitch is an opportunity for me to prove I’m better than the hitter.”

That attitude that Hughes has already shown in his brief career inside the farm system made an impression on Rockies Director of Player Development Chris Forbes.

“He’s pretty mean on the mound. He doesn’t look like a guy you want to face,” Forbes said. “There’s a tempo to his delivery. He likes to attack hitters.”

Forbes said that the pitch mix shown by Hughes has given the Rockies not only something to expect from the right-hander on the mound, but also what to target to help him progress and fine-tune his craft.

“The fastball is huge. He has a slider. He has a changeup. He has them all working and I think he has an advanced feel for what he has to do,” Forbes said. “The key is going to be keeping him in his delivery. I think that’s what happened a little bit in some deeper counts at Gonzaga.”

Hughes readily admits that he wasn’t MLB-ready when he was selected by the Rockies, and he has accepted the tweaks and suggestions from Colorado’s pitching brain trust that are intended to help transform him into a pitcher who can succeed at the Major League level.

“I’m working on making my delivery smoother and more repeatable, and being more consistent in my mechanics,” Hughes said, acknowledging he understands the reasoning behind the Rockies bringing him along slowly in 2022. “Coming out of college, I wasn’t a finished product. I’m still working on being consistent to this day. I knew I wasn’t anywhere near finished, and I wasn’t anywhere ready to pitch in the Majors. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me and, to the Rockies’ credit, we have worked together to develop a couple of things that I can work on in the offseason and spring.”

While he may not be ready to pitch for the Rockies, scouting reports are already beaming about the possibilities of what could be. MLB.com ranked Hughes as Colorado’s fifth-highest prospect (the highest ranking for any pitcher in the farm system) as the 2022 season concluded, writing, “The 6-foot-4 right-hander has electric stuff, starting with a fastball that’s regularly in the 94–97 mph range with ease, leading some scouts to wonder if he might touch triple digits someday. His slider can be a wipeout pitch, up to 89–90 mph, and he even shows very good feel for his changeup.”

Forbes believes that a playoff start for Hughes as his second-ever professional assignment says something about his pitching ability and makeup as a pitcher.

“We got him to Fresno for the playoffs. He started a playoff game and I feel pretty good about that,” Forbes said. “I do think he’s a guy that we could advance enough (through the Minors) to get him going (on the fast path to Coors Field).”

Over the course of those 106 pitches last season, Hughes allowed five hits and two runs while striking out six and walking two. It’s a small sample, but it’s one that Hughes has not only examined thoroughly, but also is using as a baseline heading into the 2023 campaign.

“The Rockies have done a really good job of showing me the analytics behind my pitches,” Hughes said. “With my data from Fresno, they showed me the spin rate, pitch direction and release height. Their goal with that was to show me the best version of my pitches and say, ‘Here’s what we want you to do and why we want you to be consistent with it.’ So, right now, that’s what I’m working on. They showed me and we agreed on what the best version of my pitches is, and now I’m trying to be consistent and repeatable with them.

“My big goal going into the year is to be able to utilize the analytics and the data on my side and ask questions about it. Then I can refine my pitches to become more consistent and more repeatable and have those pitches be the best versions of themselves. That’s a huge credit to the organization because that’s a lot of information at my disposal that I’ve never had before.

“I don’t think my pitches coming out of college were Major League-ready, but, with the information and the people around me, I can get to that point. That’s what I’m working on going into the season.”

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