Sep
19

Another reason spending time in the bullpen might help a young pitcher

By

Earl Weaver thought that the best way to break in a young arm was to have him pitch out of the bullpen. The Yankees have certainly practiced that over the past few years, using both Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain in relief. While Weaver’s philosophy has merit, the Yankees have an additional reason to put their young pitchers out in right-center field: Mariano Rivera. He has a lot to teach young pitchers about composure and demeanor (unfortunately, he cannot teach them the cutter). Tyler Kepner has an article up about Mo’s influence on Phil Hughes this season. The 23-year-old seems to get it. My favorite line of the article: “Hughes, 23, cannot imitate Rivera’s cutter, but he shares a stoic demeanor.” In a league filled with emotional young pitchers, it’s nice to see someone who can rein it all in.

Categories : Asides

20 Comments»

  1. Bob Stone says:

    Any young Yankee pitcher should try to learn anything and everything they can from Mariano Rivera.

  2. RalphieD says:

    well…hughes HAS learned a cutter…im sure Mo has had some say in that

  3. alex gonzalez says:

    chances are low that someone throws a cutter as good as rivera anytime soon. even under instruction from mo himself, it is impossible to duplicate. it is the greatest pitch of the last 20 years. no other pitcher has had as much success as him throwing only one pitch.

  4. Salty Buggah says:

    That’s a shot a Joba…

  5. Jesse G. says:

    “In a league filled with emotional young pitchers, it’s nice to see someone who can rein it all in.”

    While I somewhat agree with that statement, I think the more important thing is that pitchers should go with whichever style (emotional v. stoic and anywhere in between) works for them best.

  6. The Zack says:

    I’m pretty sure I saw a Hughes fist pump last night :)

  7. Tom Zig says:

    Send Hughes home with Rivera for the winter, make him learn all there is to know about baseball

  8. Jake H says:

    Mo is the man. I do like Hughes on the mound thou.

  9. Tom Zig says:

    I can’t wait for Hughes to showcase what he learned this year, next year only as a starter.

  10. Mike Pop says:

    CC/A.J./Pettitte/Joba/Hughes for 2010.

    I like it, I like it alot.

  11. [...] be Overlooked By Mike Silva ~ September 20th, 2009. Filed under: Mike Silva. Joseph Pawlikowski of RAB recaps an article from NY Times Tyler Kepner about the influence of Mariano Rivera on Phil Hughes. [...]

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