Gabriel
Hughes

2022 MLB Draft: Armed with a heavy, sinking fastball that sits in the 93-96 mph range, a solid changeup and an improving 83-86 mph breaking ball, Hughes struck out 12.7 batters per nine innings this spring. He also has an extra gear when the going gets tough. He pitches with good tempo and a quick, loose arm action through a high three-quarter slot. However, there are hints of a future reliever with effort to his delivery and a lack of a consistent, better than average secondary pitch. His slider will show average to better at times, but many others grade fringe to below average. Its shape and spin are inconsistent from start to start with some better ones during his Week Two start at Cal-State Fullerton and Week 14 against San Diego. Against Oklahoma State in Week 3 his change-of-pace showed the most hope to become at least an average pitch at the Major League level. Hughes reminds of ex-Razorback and current Cleveland Guardian Trevor Stephan. Both pitchers controlled their sinking fastballs to both sides of the plate, and both had heaters that played plus and gathered outs with it by the bushel. Stephan was a mid-third round pick, but Hughes will likely go two rounds earlier as he is more famous from his summer stint with the USA CNT and the razor thin crop of college starting pitching for this year's draft.

As they have all season, the Zags turned to RHP Gabriel Hughes to open the series and the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder delivered, going 8.2 innings and striking out nine. He allowed four runs on seven hits, three walks and a hit batter. Despite the four runs allowed, Hughes cruised through the outing, inducing poor contact with his heavy fastball and sharp breaking ball. He sat 95-96 mph out of the gate, settling in at 93-95. The breaking ball was 83-86 with sharp 11/5 bite.

Hughes jumped to No. 17 in the latest update to the PBR Draft Board, putting him in the middle of the first round. For the first six innings, he looked more like a second-round prospect, flashing heavy stuff, but lacking sharpness. Three of the four runs allowed weren't completely on him. The first two came across when a botched fly ball extended an inning. He followed with a walk and then hung a breaking ball that was squared up for a triple by the Toreros' Kevin Sim. In the sixth, catcher Caleb Ricketts led off with a solo home run to the opposite field. The next batter tripled when the center field sold out for a sinking line drive that got past him and rolled to the wall, then scored on a sacrifice fly. Hughes got through the inning without further damage, ending with a strikeout. At that point, he found an extra gear and absolutely dominated hitters for the next couple innings, striking out six of seven faced by blowing fastballs by them and getting them to chase breaking balls out of the zone. Hughes pitches with good tempo and a quick, loose arm action through a high three-quarter slot.

Gonzaga's Gabe Hughes wasn't his normal self during my look last summer with the USA CNT. He sat 91-93 with his fastball instead of the mid-90s he's known to normally pump. Big and strong at 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, the power right-hander has the potential to be the highest Gonzaga draft pick since Marco Gonzales was selected in the first round in 2013. Facing the Cowboys in Friday's Opener, Hughes showed his prized weapon to the second batter of the game. It was a heavy, hard sinker dropping under the bat of Roc Riggio for a swinging strikeout. However, Hughes wasn't able to get his power sinker fully established until after a Nolan McLean home run leading off the second inning.

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After that trot around the bases, Hughes shifted gears, starting busting left-handed handles, while accumulating loads of swing/miss via his bread-n-butter. He retired the next 15 batters in a row (eight via KO) before walking Riggio to leadoff the seventh. After two more strikeouts, Hughes gave up his first hit since the McLean homer, surrendering a line drive single to right field by Caeden Trenkle. Hughes fastball peaked at 97, mostly sitting 94-95 with big weight. He mixed in an occasional slider ranging from 83-84. One of these showed average, the others graded below. It was inconsistent with its shape and spin on this look, but was reportedly a higher grade offering during his Week Two start at Cal-State Fullerton. On this look his change-of-pace showed the most hope to become at least an average pitch at the Major League level. He did slow his arm on a couple of occasions, but managed to show a couple present average cambios in the 79-82 mph range. Hughes reminds me of ex-Razorback and current Cleveland Guardian Trevor Stephan. Both controlled their sinking fastballs to both sides of the plate. Both had heaters that played plus and gathered outs with it by the bushel. Both also had usable off speed offerings with Hughes projecting to have the better change-of-pace and Stephan the better breaking ball. Stephan was a 3rd round pick, but Hughes will likely go a round earlier as he is more famous from his summer stint with the CNT and Stephan was a lesser-proven JC transfer. The ever-thinning crop of college starting pitching will also play a factor.

Drew considerable buzz before my arrival. During my look, the 6-foot-5, 230-pound right-hander struggled to hit spots with his 92-93 mph downhill fastball and hard breaking ball. However, it was a brief outing of just 10 pitches in one inning which resulted in two hits and one run.