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February 16, 2007

Former Yanks Phenom On Another Yanks Phenom

It's all good.

From the Toronto Star -

Former Jays pitching coach Gil Patterson, who has mentored many of the young arms in the Yankee system since leaving Toronto, had high praise for some of his students but especially for Hughes, who has not pitched above Double A.

"From the short time that I've seen Phil the last couple of years, for me, he does everything," Patterson enthused. "He's going to be like a (Roy Halladay) Junior.

"And he might not even take a back seat to Doc. Work ethic, student of the game, wants to do it right, everything that a pitching coach and an organization should want their pitchers to be like. Whether he's going to turn out to have the success Doc has had we'll only have to wait and see, but he's done everything right."

Hughes, a Georgia native, does not need to be protected on the 40-man roster until the end of the '07 season, yet he speaks with the assurance and maturity of a veteran.

"I really respect Gil," Hughes said. "That's obviously a great compliment. But, it doesn't really mean anything until you actually go out and prove something at the highest level. So, you've just got to wait."

Another Doc Halladay? Sweet.

I have to imagine that Gil Patterson sees a lot of himself in Philip Hughes. Let us hope that Hughes doesn't end up with a playing career to match Patterson's results.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at February 16, 2007 09:38 AM

Comments

Or Brien Taylor.

Posted by: rbj [TypeKey Profile Page] at February 16, 2007 10:12 AM