FORT MYERS, Florida - Coming off a breakthrough debut season with the Twins, Phil Hughes already has been penciled in as the team’s Opening Day starter.
First-year Twins manager Paul Molitor made the announcement on Monday after the first day of official on-field workouts for pitchers and catchers. Along with new pitching coach Neil Allen, the Twins have mapped out their pitching plans through the early portion of the season.
That includes Hughes taking the ball April 6 in Detroit.
“Right now, at least in pencil and preliminarily, that’s what we have in mind,” Molitor said.
Asked if that meant free-agent signee Ervin Santana would get the ball in the season’s second game, Molitor demurred.
“Let’s just go with Phil for one for now and we’ll see what happens,” Molitor said. “I’m going to leave that to Neil for now.”
The Opening Day nod would be Hughes’ first in the majors.
Last year with the Twins, fellow free-agent acquisition Ricky Nolasco got the nod in the season opener at the Chicago White Sox, but Nolasco went on to struggle through an injury-plagued year.
“I don’t know if there’s really any urgency to try to make any of those things public,” Molitor said. “I see the announcements every spring: ‘Such and such was named Opening Day starter.’ If that’s newsworthy, then so be it. I don’t think too many people would be surprised, if Phil Hughes has a healthy spring, that he starts our first game.”
Hughes went 16-10 with a 3.
52 earned-run average for the Twins in 2014. He set a major league mark with an 11.63 strikeout/walk rate and added career bests for innings (209 2/3) and strikeouts (186). In all, he walked just 15 batters last season.
“His season was historic; we all know that,” Molitor said. “When you walk less people than (you earn) wins, it’s pretty phenomenal.”
Hughes spoke to reporters Monday before Molitor’s announcement.
“I had the heaviest workload of my career last year,” Hughes said. “I’m just really focusing on making sure that my body is prepared to do that again, if not more. That’s always my goal: to stay healthy and get 32-plus starts in and be a guy that this team can count on.”
Hughes signed a three-year, $42 million contract extension in December that will keep him under Twins control through 2019.
“I’ve always tried to come into spring and feel like I have to prove something and feel like there’s some competition,” Hughes said. “It keeps you sharp and it keeps you hungry and going. If I go out there and just kind of through the motions, I don’t get anything done.”
After yo-yoing year to year since 2010, excelling in even-numbered years and struggling in between, Hughes is out to prove he can keep his career renaissance rolling.
“I always try to come into these situations and not hold back at all,” he said, “and throw my bullpens with conviction and go out and throw these games with conviction. That’s what gets me nice and prepared for the season.”
Molitor is just pleased to have Hughes at the top of his revamped rotation.
“It was a pleasure for us to see him transition to our organization last year,” Molitor said. “(With) the change of scenery and a clean slate, he obviously developed confidence as the year went on. You could see it just progress from month to month, start to start. And there’s no reason to think that’s not going to continue.”
Strong work habits were among the reasons the Twins were so keen to commit long-term to Hughes, who initially signed a three-year, $24 million deal with them after 2013.
“We’re going to put him up there at the top, and hopefully it will kind of go from there,” Molitor said. “We’re just going to encourage our young guys to watch people like that -- that have a nice work ethic and a way to go about their business that’s proven to be successful. He’s very unassuming. He’s a humble guy.”
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