Twenty-two-year-old Daniel Hudson made his first major-league start Monday night against the Twins, and it ended up being pretty successful. Hudson—who threw 147.1 innings with a 166/34 K/BB ratio and a 2.32 ERA across four minor-league levels this year—likely will be first in line to fill in as a spot starter in 2010 if a starter such as Freddy Garcia goes down with an injury, so getting his feet wet with a MLB start this year is a good thing.
Here's what I saw from Hudson, categorized by each type of pitch:
Fastball
Hudson touched 96 with this pitch but usually kept it around 92-94 mph, but the movement on the pitch is what makes it good. While his location wasn't always spot-on with it, he did use it to challenge Twins hitters inside—which is really good to see from a rookie making his MLB debut. For the most part, Hudson trusted his fastball throughout the night—which, again, is a good sign for a rookie. With his movement and velocity, all Hudson really has to do is trust in his ability to locate his fastball and he'll have a lot of success with it.
Changeup
This pitch had a whole lot of life to it. Hudson does a great job of turning his changeup over and getting down and away movement to lefties, which leads to a whole lot of swings and misses along with weak ground balls. It's no wonder Hudson was so effective against lefties in the minors (his opponent batting average for lefties was well below the Mendoza line). Right now, Hudson's changeup easily is his best out-pitch and, from an amateur scouting standpoint, it reminds me a lot of Javier Vazquez' changeup just in terms of velocity and movement.
Slider/curveball
Hudson has a quick slider that I think MLB Gameday got mixed up with a cutter in their pitch f/x data. Hudson did vary the speeds on that pitch from anything as high as 86 to as low as 81 or so. It's understandable that he wasn't completely confident in throwing it a whole lot, but this is a pitch that he'll hopefully work on developing throughout the offseason, spring training, and wherever he starts 2010. It's tough to be a two-pitch starting pitcher, but if you have three good pitches you can throw for strikes, you instantly become a threat.
Hudson threw his overhand curve less than his slider, and it's unlikely that Hudson is going to rely much on that 12-6 curve moving forward. It's an acceptable change-of-pace pitch, but nothing that I'd expect him to throw with frequency.
The result
5.0 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 4 K. Hudson was jittery with his control at times—namely, the second and fifth innings—but was able to come out of those situations relatively unscathed. He didn't deserve to give up a run in the first, when Jermaine Dye was unable to range for a blooper that turned into a triple for Orlando Cabrera. A passed ball by AJ Pierzynski allowed Cabrera to score an unearned run.
Hudson's worst inning was the second, when yielded a one-out walk to Delmon Young but got Jose Morales (who is hitting something like .750 against the Sox in 16 career at-bats) to fly out for the second out. Following that out, Hudson gave up a single to Matt Tolbert and then walked both Nick Punto and Denard Span to bring home the only run changed to Hudson in the game.
A throwing error by Hudson in fifth allowed Cabrera to get to second, where he nearly was stranded. However, an 0-2 fastball to Michael Cuddyer wasn't high enough and Cuddyer slapped it into right for a RBI single.
Final thoughts
There were two things that I really liked from Hudson today: First, his fearlessness in challenging hitters inside with his fastball, and second, the movement on his changeup. Not only did Hudson show good stuff, but he showed that he knew how to use it, too.
If Hudson can develop his slider more an add a cutter—which, in all likelihood, he will in the near future given the Sox' recent history with young starters—he'll be a very effective starter for the Sox down the road. Whether that's in 2010 or 2011, we don't know.
But if tonight's start was any indication, Hudson has a bright future ahead of him.
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