Hughes Heating Up

This past season at double-A, infielder Luke Hughes had a breakout season with the Rock Cats. Hughes emerged as a top prospect and a future third base candidate after he reached the All-Star Futures Game. He hit .319 at New Britain with 15 homeruns and 40 RBI in just 70 games.

With a solid first half, and a continuation of his early performances early on in the second half, Hughes was promoted to triple-A Rochester. With the Red Wings, Hughes played in 29 games to finish out the season, and hit .283 with 3 homeruns and 21 RBI at a higher competition level.

The team made the plan for Hughes to play winter ball, and focus on the defensive side of things with a transition to third.

Hughes started over very slow, hitting just above .100 most of the way. In fact, Hughes didn't climb much over the .100 mark until this past week when he started yet another breakout.

Last 10 Games Date OPP AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS Oct 31 MAG .000 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Nov 01 @LAG .500 4 2 2 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 Nov 02 LAG .250 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Nov 04 @CAR .000 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Nov 05 LAR .667 3 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 Nov 06 MAR .250 4 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 Nov 07 @ZUL .500 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Nov 08 @ZUL .000 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Nov 09 @ZUL .750 4 0 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 Nov 11 CAR .400 5 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals .342 38 6 13 2 1 1 8 1 5 2 1

Note: Overall Hughes has a .266 average, 2 homeruns, and 11 RBI.

A poor start may have hurt any chances that he may have had of making the team out of spring training, but he will still get a look. More than likely, Hughes will start with the Red Wings and find his way to the majors later on in the season.