TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 22 — There were cheers for the past at Legends Field on Thursday when fans saluted Andy Pettitte. There was the intrigue of the unknown, when Kei Igawa took the mound. But mostly, there was the promise of youth.
The Yankees’ five regular starters threw batting practice, and when they were done, Phil Hughes and Humberto Sánchez did the same. They are the Yankees’ two prized pitching prospects, and they did not disappoint.
Hughes threw 34 pitches, and the hitters put two in play. Sánchez was a bit wild, but Jason Giambi guessed that he threw 96 miles an hour. Hughes and Sánchez are the cornerstones of the Yankees’ emphasis on young pitching.
“From the first day when we all walked in, it looked like a corral — just a bunch of horses,” the backup catcher Todd Pratt said. “I’d be pretty happy if I was Mr. Cashman.”
Brian Cashman, the general manager, has no plans to put Hughes or Sánchez in the majors out of camp. But Hughes, especially, drew raves. He might be the best pitching prospect in baseball.
“He’s the real deal,” Giambi said. “He’s unbelievable. Great composure, great tempo. We could have used him last year. You forget he’s, what, 20? He reminds me of a young Rocket.”
Giambi was referring to Roger Clemens. He never actually faced a young Clemens, but that did not seem to matter. This was a day to gaze hopefully to the future. Pratt compared Hughes to a young Curt Schilling, whom he caught in Philadelphia, and a younger Brett Myers.
“You’ve just got to sit back and look at yourself in the mirror,” Hughes said. “It’s great to hear those comparisons. They feel good, but it really doesn’t mean much.”
Hughes has dominated the minors since the Yankees made him their first pick in the 2004 draft. He is 21-7 with a 2.13 earned run average in 47 games, but has never pitched above Class AA. The only thing he seems to lack is experience, and a refined slider. His fastball, curveball and changeup are outstanding.
“Hughes is just special,” said Ben Davis, who caught him Thursday. “I’m not mocking anyone on the team; I’m just saying the way the ball comes out of his hand is different than the way it comes out of other people’s hands. I mean, his fastball explodes and his curveball is devastating. That’s the only word I can say: devastating.
“The four-seam fastball away is pretty much your only shot. You miss it, you’re done. He’s got that kind of stuff. The ball just gets on you. I know what’s coming as a catcher back there, and it still surprises me how much it gets on you. He’s definitely blessed.”
Hughes says he uses his legs to generate strength, the way the best power pitchers do. But his mechanics make him seem as if he short-arms the ball, causing it to jump on hitters. Awkward swings are common.
“He’s deceptive,” the pitching coach Ron Guidry said. “Everybody knows he has great velocity, but he actually doesn’t look like he’s throwing it that hard.”
Sánchez is different. He is 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, and seems to come hurtling at the hitter. The Yankees acquired him during the off-season from Detroit in the Gary Sheffield trade.
“He’s huge,” Giambi said. “I don’t know how you let a guy like that go. I guess when you throw 96, it’s not enough to make that ballclub. In Detroit, every player throws 100.”
Sánchez said the Yankees were a better fit for him than the Tigers, who have a staff of young starters in their prime. It is also a natural fit, because Sánchez grew up in the South Bronx.
Born in the Dominican Republic, Sánchez moved to New York with his parents at age 10. In the Dominican, his mother worked at an airport and his father for a newspaper. In New York, his mother found work as a maid, and his father worked for a company that made brakes for trains.
Sánchez loved baseball as a child — “It’s all I could think about,” he said — and his favorite player was Lee Smith, the longtime closer who saved 478 games, the second-highest career total in baseball. Sánchez did not know then that he would grow up to be almost exactly the same size as Smith.
“He threw gas, bro,” Sánchez said. “When you’re a kid, you like that stuff. He looked intimidating.”
Sánchez, 23, attended South Bronx High School and often went to Yankees games. Early in the 1996 season, he had a rain check and was given the choice of seeing the Chicago White Sox, the Kansas City Royals or the Seattle Mariners.
It was an easy choice. The Mariners were loaded with stars like Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Randy Johnson. Sánchez chose the Mariners game and sat in the upper deck just past first base with his younger brother. That was the night Dwight Gooden threw a no-hitter for the Yankees.
“We were standing up the whole last inning,” Sánchez said. “We were like, ‘No shot he’s gonna do it. No way, no way.’ And the last out of the game — who was it? Paul Sorrento? — popped up to short.”
Sánchez pitched once at Yankee Stadium, at a tryout in 2000. He took a line drive off the side of his right elbow and got an emergency visit to the trainers’ room in the Yankees’ clubhouse.
“It was pretty cool,” Sánchez said. “I don’t remember much of it. I was kind of in pain, trying to see if my arm was broken.”
It was not, though other arm injuries have slowed Sánchez’s progress in the minors. He reached Class AAA with the Tigers last year, going 5-3 with a 3.86 earned run average in nine starts.
Pitching to the more famous Yankees on Wednesday did not make him feel as if he had arrived. He has not been back on the field in the Bronx since that line drive at the tryout.
“It won’t settle in until I actually step into Yankee Stadium,” Sánchez said. “I’m still at Legends Field, trying to make the squad.”
