The Decade’s Best: No. 39 Jared Hughes

Wk2_JaredHughes.jpgJared Hughes
Chatham 2005
Pitcher
Long Beach State

Jared Hughes came to Chatham with his Long Beach State teammate Evan Longoria. Both of them had breakout summers and both of them had a big hand in getting Chatham its highest win total of the decade.

While Longoria, being an everyday player, had an impact on a few more games, Hughes contributed as much as he possibly could.

Literally.

In the regular season, the towering righty made seven starts. He won all of them. And I don’t mean the A’s won all his starts. He got credited with a win in each of them.

In the Cape League’s statistical landscape, that’s exceedingly rare.

Hughes is one of only three players in the decade to win seven games. Six is generally the high-water mark. Among the three who did get to seven, Hughes is the only one who went undefeated.

At least in this decade, Hughes stands alone.

While the victories speak for themselves — and say more than enough — they aren’t the only reason Hughes is on this list. As you might expect for a guy who went 7-0, his other numbers were also outstanding. He finished the regular season with a 1.62 ERA and he struck out 54 in 50 innings, with just 11 walks. His best start came early in the summer, when he struck out 12 and didn’t walk anybody in a complete-game win over Falmouth.

After the Cape

Hughes was rated as the 18th best prospect in the league by Baseball America and he was drafted the next year in the fourth round. In four minor-league seasons so far, Hughes has compiled a career ERA of 4.55. Though he went 1-6 this year in Double A, he had a 3.88 ERA.

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