23
2012
Meet The Met: RHP Collin McHugh
An article by 
Collin McHugh Makes His First Big League Start This Afternoon At Citi
There’s an old baseball adage kicking around regarding player development. It’s a basic rule of thumb that, assuming a player ever navigates the minors and makes it to the major leagues, it should take a hitter roughly 1500 minor league at-bats before he is equipt to handle the David Price’s and Johnny Cueto’s of the world.
For pitchers, the same rule applies also. That it would take 500 minor league innings or thereabouts, for a pitcher to be able to go up against the likes of an Andrew McCutchen or a Mike Trout, and expect a small modicum of success.
I’m not saying that it’s fool-proof, but since I first heard of that formula back when Rocky and Bullwinkle were must-see TV, I have noticed that it is more often than not, pretty darn close to those actual numbers.
Well guess what? In his last start at Buffalo on Saturday, Collin McHugh pushed his innings totals up to 521 for his minor league career. Now I know a lot of you are thinking right now: “C’mon Petey, that really doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in the big picture. Either he’s ready to contribute now or he isn’t.”
Well I can’t argue with someone who takes such a pragmatic view of player development, but let’s not dismiss that 500 inning watermark quite yet as being a lot of hooey.
For one thing, not too many people would argue that the Mets should have brought McHugh up sooner. If you watched his progress carefully these last two years, you could clearly see the steps he took that got him to where he is today.
In my first interview with Collin for MMO last October, my favorite question slash answer that I thought he gave in the whole interview, was the one where I asked him how come he made the, “biggest jump in the minors” from High-A to Double-A, and while doing so, actually ratcheted up his game to a whole nother level at the same time?
If you put that promotion, in May of 2011 into perspective, his answer not only makes perfect sense, but is also rather fascinating. You see when he first went up to Binghamton he had already made six starts at St. Lucie. And he didn’t fare very well. He was getting smacked around as a 24-year-old pitcher in the Florida State League, to the tune of a H/9 at just under 12.0 (11.9 actually). He had a 1-2 record and a 6.31 ERA.
So what he told me was, that he really had no expectations of being in Binghamton for very long, a spot start or two, maybe a brief stint in the bullpen. Then more than likely, back on the St. Lucie express. And I have to say, Collin is a realist, and he had discussed the matter with his wife Ashley, and they decided that if the end-of-the-line might be looming ahead for our hero, that they might as well enjoy the rest of the ride for as long as it lasts, and just have fun.
Whether that caused a certain upswing in command of his pitches, or whether it was just a coincidence, McHugh was a completely different pitcher when he arrived in the Eastern League. He quickly became the “ace” of the staff I guess you could say, and made 16 starts the rest of the way and went 8-2 with a 2.89 ERA.
He pitched the best game, to that point in his career, in his last start of the 2011 season against Erie on September 1st. He went nine innings in what was the only B-Mets complete game of last season. Gave up one run on five hits, with 11 strikeouts and two walks. Between the two stops last year he pitched a 129 innings, and then went on to Arizona to play in the fall league out there in the desert.
I saw Collin pitch a masterful game in New Britain on May 22nd this year. He was embroiled in a zero-zero pitcher’s duel heading into the seventh inning. The lead-off hitter in the bottom of the seventh was the New Britain right-fielder Evan Bigley. Bigley turned an inside fastball around in a hurry and drove one over the left-centerfield fence and into the Connecticut night, much to my shock and horror.
That made the score 1-0 and brought up the left-fielder Nathan Hanson. As I watched the animated Bigley skipping around the bases like a frolicking pony, and the press box around me erupted in rejoicing, my thoughts went to the long drive home I had ahead of me after the game, and I began to wonder whether it would be a happy recap, or not. My melancholy was interupted rather suddenly. McHugh came a little too far inside with an offering and hit Hanson on the wrist.
It was about this time that all hell broke loose on the diamond. The umpire, some ridiculous clown by the name of Joey Armorall, who takes his job very, very seriously I might add, leaps from behind home plate gesticulating wildly at McHugh, and waiving his upturned thumb around over his head like he was swinging a lasso.
Incredulous, McHugh went ballistic and made up the distance between the mound and home-plate in about 1.2 seconds. He looked as if he wanted to take Armorall and clean some upholstery with his face. But somehow catcher Kai Gronauer, who runs very well for a catcher, made it to McHugh in a half-second flat, and wrapping his arms around him in a bear hug, kept him from killing the umpire. I was mystified that an ump could so misread a situation as to think a pitcher, trying to protect a 1-0 deficit in the seventh inning, would purposely throw at a hitter.
The next day I saw Collin in the dugout before batting practice and I began to tease him about “hitting that poor guy on purpose” but he just shook his head expressing the same thought I had already had. Why would anyone trying to win that game, start putting guys on base on purpose?
I think Glen Abbott, the B-Mets pitching coach summed it up very succinctly a few minutes later when I said to him, “Hey coach, why’d they throw your boy out of the game last night?” He made a sour face and waved his hand in a dismissing fashion and simply said, “Double-A umpires don’t know bleep!” Couldn’t have said it better myself coach. By the way, he didn’t really say bleep.
McHugh is a bulldog, pure and simple. He throws a fastball in the low-90′s and does a good job of keeping it down. He has an effective change, and a good slider, but his best secondary pitch is his hammer curve. If you have yet to see him pitch, you will notice that when he is throwing well everything is down, and he goes after hitters aggressively.
Here’s why I think McHugh is going to stick in the bigs, and why the timing for him to be brought up right now is perfect. For one, he is 25-years-old, a polished pitcher who shows good command, poise on the mound, and a good idea of what he’s doing out there.
When he arrived at AAA in June of this year, he struggled in his first three starts, losing two of them and getting a no-decision in the other. Then he rattled off a string of eight-out-of-nine quality starts including his gem this past Saturday.
Pitching at Pawtucket, he tossed 7.0 innings, giving up no runs on five hits, with four strikeouts and no walks. And Pawtucket is one of the better hitting teams in the International League as well, ranking second or third in every major offensive team category.
With McHugh on a roll right now, and the big league club going nowhere fast, the timing is perfect for him to make his Major League debut. And today is the day.
Congratulations Collin. This opportunity couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, and all of us Mets fans, and the entire staff at MMO, want to wish you the very best of luck as you embark on your big league sojourn this afternoon against Colorado. And always remember Collin……..
LGM!
About the Author: Peter Shapiro
The first time I went to Shea was not for a Mets game, it was for the Beatles concert there in August of '66. My first Met game was '67, a guy named Salty Parker was the interim-manager then. My first pennant race was 1969. As a 12 year-old that summer and fall, I managed to get to the park for 3 games. The first was the beginning of the Miracle which actually started on Tuesday July 8, 1969 with a day game against the Cubs. I was there a lot in '73. I saw games 3 & 5 of the 1973 NL Playoffs against the "Big Red Machine", from the upper deck behind home plate. It was from there that I witnessed the fight between Bud Harrelson and Pete Rose, and the mayhem that ensued. And that sweet victory in game 5! I saw a couple of WS games at Shea that year against that legendary Oakland A's club. I was there in 1985 for every single game Dr. K pitched including his two 16 strikeout performances, and the day he one-hit the Cubs on an infield single and the Mets won 1-0. I loved being a Met fan in those days. Hopefully we are once again preparing to emerge from the darkness.
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Looking forward to watching his MLB debut today.
I’m kind of glad they went with McHugh over Mejia for now. I’m excited to see tonight’s game.
I interviewed Collin in the offseason. Really nice guy.
His blog is cool too. He’s a very good writer.
Ya, a really dig the “behind the scenes” stuff. Always nice to see the players as human beings.
Hey everyone, I apologize for that comment from Mack at Mack’s Mets that I just deleted.
Collin, I know we emailed you the link to the post this morning, so in case you saw that, pay no mind to that fool. In fact that’s the same guy that verbally abused Matt Budgell and Phil Evans in July.
He’s an angry man who is envious of MMO, Toby Hyde and Matt Cerrone, and posts negative things about us weekly.
I’ve tried reasoning with him, but alas how can one reason with someone who is out of his mind?
Anyway, Mack represents the worst sludge in the fanbase. He bashes the team incessantly and even said this season that the Mets should cut bait with your buddy Rob Carson.
His post encouraging you and all Mets minor leaguers to leave this organization whenever you get the chance says all you need to know about him.
Best of luck this afternoon!
What did he say?
I stopped following that site last year. I mean who’s the bigger fool? The fool, or the fools that follow him?
It’s kinda creepy how that guy is so obsessed with our site Joe. It’s like he has some kind of weird man-crush on you and me the way he writes about us almost on a daily basis these days. I only go onto his site and respond when he is over-doing his medications and writing gibberish and insulting crap that I just can’t ignore anymore, so I’ll go on there and leave a comment under my own name, because I have no reason to hide who I am, and cower behind a myriad of alias’ and false identities.
This warped and twisted creep constantly comes onto MMO trying to be insulting and clever at the same time, and failing miserably at both because he is incapable of writing anything that makes any sense. He doesn’t see how he embarrasses himself, and comes off like a complete buffoon. He takes umbrage in the fact that we write terrific articles for our readers to enjoy, so he slips into the comment thread under an assumed identity, and posts some unintelligible nonsense.
We only respond to him when he is hurtful to others for no reason, like a bully, which unfortunately is all the time these days. He claims to be a Mets fan, but with all the piss and vinegar oozing from his pores, he is little more than a poison pill. One that should be spit out and discarded.
I am sorry? who are you guys talking about? there’s a guy FROM another BLOG who comes in here? to insult the site and its writers?? Hmmmmmm…. Sounds like someone I KNOW!
Haha!! Alex baby!!! Welcome back bro!
Lol, petey, as usual the CORE salute you. i was never gone, always here…
Yeah, i saw that.. Mack’s a hater, what were you getting at? That i was implying someone else? someone else does that?
LOL…maybe I’m missing something but you did ask: ‘who are you guys talking about?’
Lol, i didn’t see joe’s comment at first, just saw petey and he mentioned obsession and other blog so i wasn’t sure… Had to ask you know.
Alex, Joe D mentioned the person and site above in his comment.
Nice shot Alex, but how about you go back and find where I said I did not like this blog, buddy. Other wise it’s just your normal fallacies.
Alex, I know you too well for that to be true. When you can get in a shot against the “desert” you do it.
If he’s trying to get me to buy into that, it’s not working. How is my buddy Ed doing?
Crazy as always.
As usual good read Pete. I heard Terry Collins say yesterday that McGugh is like Gee with a better curveball. Looking forward to finally seeing him pitch.
Hey Pete, love the name…”Meet the Met”….gonna be a feature here on MMO? Nice interesting read for people who don’t know much about some of the guys we may be seeing with the big club come Sept. 1.
Thanks Dan!
Sorry….just joking a little. And…I ain’t Mack. Take a joke. It was okay for Petey to do it, right?
Developing talent is a much to do with keeping the challenged and learning how to fight as much as it might be about throwing a curveball and sinker for a strike.
It gets lost sometimes on those who look at stats and not at the person themselves when evaluating them.
If you leave a guy down too long at some point they will pitch to the level you left them at and will not make that effort to take the next step.
The best way to develop a kid is to keep him in the mode where improvement is required not just desired!
Confidence is not attained by mere success it has to come from facing someone that is not so easy to face and succeeding.
So perhaps the promotion has give him the boost and the onus to take it up a level.
And so far he seems to be rising to the occassion again today!
What happened to the days when “writers” were gramatically correct?
Howard Hughes said if you want to be successful, do what successful people do. I take my cue from MetsBlog and Deadspin.
Anyhow, haven’t you heard? Journalism is dead, yo.
Few and far between at this point. Nowadays that kind of accuracy — in writing and analysis — lives on 1-2 other much more capable Mets blogs.