Jared Hughes Is Pitching Himself Out Of A Job

Jared Hughes should not be on the Pirates’ Opening Day roster

The Pittsburgh Pirates are just 18 days away from the start of the 2017 season. On April 3rd, the Pirates will travel to Fenway Park to start a season opening three game series with the Boston Red Sox. Due to this, Clint Hurdle needs to start to prepare to set his Opening Day roster.

One player who should not be on the Pirates’ Opening Day roster is right-handed reliever Jared Hughes. While Hughes has been a mainstay in the Pirate bullpen for the past five seasons, it is time for his tenure in Pittsburgh to end.

As I wrote about earlier this offseason, Jared Hughes has been in steady decline since July 2015. Since this was written, all Hughes has done is getting crushed in Spring Training. While Spring Training results tend to be completely pointless, the results for Hughes are still alarming.

The biggest cause for concern around the results of Jared Hughes this spring is the fact that he already appeared to be a pitcher in decline. Since July of 2015 he has been a sinker ball pitcher with a decreasing ground ball rate, increasing fly ball rate, and, as a result, an rising home run rate.

Additionally, during this time his control has gotten worse and the amount of hard contact he allows has increased. All of this adds up to a relief pitcher that should not be on a Major League roster, especially the roster of a team looking to contend for a postseason berth.

So far this spring Hughes has pitched six innings. In these six innings he has allowed 12 runs, 10 earned, on 10 hits, four walks, he’s hit a batter, and he’s allowed a home run. Hughes has allowed a total of five extra base hits this spring, which has led to opposing batters owning a .430 slugging percentage against Hughes this spring.

Jared Hughes also has Minor League options remaining. Due to this, the Pirates can simply option Hughes to Triple-A Indianapolis to start the season without having to expose him to waivers and risk losing him. This would open a bullpen spot for someone like A.J. Schugel who is a better option than Hughes.

Next: Gosselin v. Hanson

As was said above, putting too much stock into Spring Training numbers is always a dangerous thing. However, the results this spring for Jared Hughes have been very alarming. They continue to show what Hughes has been since July of 2015, a pitcher in decline. For these reasons, Hughes should not be on the Pirates’ Opening Day roster.