Jared Hughes returns to PNC Park as a Brewer to standing ovation
PITTSBURGH 鈥� From June 2006 until March 2017, Jared Hughes was a Pirate.
Drafted by the team out of Cal State Long Beach when Hughes was a 20-year-old junior in college. Fast forward 11 years later, and he鈥檚 a married man, a father and a seven-year major-league veteran.
Friday, he made his first appearance against his former team as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers, the team that claimed Hughes off waivers when he was one of the last men released for the Pirates at the end of Spring Training.
It was a move that Clint Hurdle called 鈥渁 hard decision, maybe one of the hardest I鈥檝e been involved in.鈥� It wasn鈥檛 just that Hughes had been a longtime Pirate that had grown up as a member of the team. Hughes was one of the most positive members of the clubhouse, setting an example for younger players and even becoming the personal favorite of Hurdle鈥檚 son, Christian.
鈥淗e seems like he鈥檚 doing well,鈥� Hurdle said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very rarely that I see him where he doesn鈥檛 have a big smile. He talks about his family, his wife and his kid. He鈥檚 happy. He鈥檚 pitching in the big leagues. I had to make sure I saw him right away because he鈥檚 Christian鈥檚 favorite player.鈥�
For Hughes, the return to his former stomping grounds was somewhat bittersweet. He was able to wear some familiar ruts in his walk to the ballpark, but things changed when he arrived at the player鈥檚 gate at PNC Park.
鈥淸They] told me to go to 24-hour security,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 got rejected at the front entrance today. But it was OK, it was a nice walk to the stadium.鈥�
It was difficult leaving a group of people I really enjoyed being with, but it was really nice to enter into an organization that was so welcoming.鈥�
Hughes was most effective for the Pirates as a throwback, fireman style of reliever that often came in with runners on base and was tasked with cleaning up the mess another pitcher made. He accomplished that with a sinker that had one of the best ground-ball rates in all of Major League Baseball.
But that production had slipped, especially in 2016. His ERA in his best season in 2014 was 1.96. It climbed to 2.28 in 2015 and 3.03 last year. That still wasn鈥檛 a number that was prohibitively bad, but as a veteran player that had gone through the arbitration process, Hughes was made aware that the combination of his slipping performance and increasing salary might not be palatable for the Pirates.
鈥滻 had a terrible spring training,鈥� he said. 鈥淏efore spring started, (general manager Neal Huntington) said, 鈥楬ey listen, there might be a crunch at the end of spring. You鈥檙e making a lot of money and if you have a bad spring, we might not want you on the team.鈥� So, I had a kind of a head鈥檚 up on it so I wasn鈥檛 necessarily surprised.鈥�
In the sixth inning, Hughes made his trademarked sprint from the bullpen to the mound at PNC Park, it was just made a few yards shorter by his move to the visitor鈥檚 bullpen. He was honored by a standing ovation from the Pirates fans that had remained after the lengthy rain delay and was pretty much his old self on the mound.
After starting the inning by getting a pair of weakly hit ground balls, he gave up one hit 鈥� a pinch-hit single by Phil Gosselin 鈥� walked Jordy Mercer and struck out Josh Harrison.
鈥淎 special night and a special series to come back,鈥� Hughes said.