Collin McHugh

Collin Alexander McHugh (born June 19, 1987) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has also played in MLB for the New York Mets, Colorado Rockies and Houston Astros.

Collin McHugh
McHugh with the Houston Astros in 2015
Boston Red Sox – No. 46
Starting pitcher
Born: (1987-06-19) June 19, 1987
Naperville, Illinois
Bats: Right Throws: Right
MLB debut
August 23, 2012, for the New York Mets
MLB statistics
(through 2019 season)
Win–loss record57-43
Earned run average3.95
Strikeouts770
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Amateur career

Born in Naperville, Illinois, McHugh graduated from Providence Christian Academy in Lilburn, Georgia, and attended Berry College. In 2007, he played collegiate summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Chatham A's and the Wareham Gatemen.[1] He was drafted by the New York Mets in the 18th round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft.

Professional career

New York Mets
McHugh pitching for the New York Mets in 2012

McHugh was called up to the major leagues on August 22, 2012, and he made his MLB debut on August 23 against the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field.[2][3] He pitched seven scoreless innings and got nine strikeouts while surrendering two hits and a walk.[4] Despite his performance, McHugh did not get the win as the Mets lost, 1–0. McHugh made two more starts before being demoted on August 24 to make room on the roster for Jeremy Hefner.[5] Overall with the 2012 Mets, he appeared in eight games (four starts) compiling an 0–4 record with a 7.59 ERA. During 2013, McHugh made three appearances (one start) with the Mets; he had a 10.29 ERA and an 0–1 record.

Colorado Rockies

The Mets traded McHugh to the Colorado Rockies for outfielder Eric Young Jr. on June 18, 2013.[6] McHugh appeared in four games (all starts) for the 2013 Rockies, registering an 0–3 record with 9.95 ERA. He was designated for assignment on December 16, 2013.[7]

Houston Astros

On December 18, 2013, McHugh was claimed off waivers by the Houston Astros.[7] In 2014, he finished with 11 wins and led the team in ERA, with a 2.73 mark.[8] In 2015, McHugh finished 2nd in the American League in wins with 19, behind teammate Dallas Keuchel's 20 wins. In 2016, he pitched in a career-high 33 starts, finishing 13–10 with an ERA of 4.34 in ​184 2⁄3 innings.

McHugh began the 2017 season on the 10-day disabled list due to tendonitis in his right shoulder. On April 6, 2017, he left a game while on rehab assignment with the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies after feeling tightness in his elbow and biceps. With posterior impingement in his right elbow, McHugh was ruled out for an extended period of time.[9] He was limited to just 12 starts. He appeared in two games of the postseason, pitching a combined total of six innings, allowing a total of one hit and three runs. The Astros won the 2017 World Series.[10] Three years later, the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal broke, in which it was revealed that the Astros had cheated during their championship season. McHugh said that he knew about the sign stealing scheme and expressed remorse for going along with it.[11]

McHugh made the transition to a relief role in 2018, appearing in 58 games. He finished with an ERA of 1.99 in ​72 1⁄3 innings, striking out 94. In 2018, he had the third-lowest swing rate for his in-strike-zone sliders of any pitcher in baseball (43.9%), behind only Aroldis Chapman (42.5%) and Robert Stock (43.1%).[12]

McHugh began the 2019 season as a starting pitcher for the Astros, a job he secured in spring training. He was demoted to the bullpen on May 11, 2019, after eight starts. At the time of his demotion, he had registered an ERA of 6.37 in 41 innings. Overall with the 2019 Astros, McHugh appeared in 35 games (8 starts) while recording 82 strikeouts in ​74 2⁄3 innings with a 4.70 ERA and a 4–5 record. On October 31, 2019, McHugh elected to become a free agent.[13]

Boston Red Sox

On March 5, 2020, McHugh signed a one-year contract with the Boston Red Sox.[14] On July 19, 2020, the team announced that he would not play during 2020, noting that McHugh's "elbow was not responding as he had hoped" following a non-surgical procedure during the offseason.[15][16] He was added to the team's restricted list on July 23.[17]

International career

On October 29, 2018, McHugh was selected as a member of the MLB All-Stars for the 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series.[18]

Personal life

McHugh married longtime girlfriend Ashley Buzzy in 2009 in Athens, Georgia. The couple welcomed their first child, a son named Elder, in December 2015.[19] In 2019, McHugh started a podcast called "The Twelve Six Podcast" where he interviewed other MLB players to bring out the human side of baseball.[20][21]

gollark: Prime+ would only allow you delivery from less cool ground-based launch sites.
gollark: Prime++ would get you orbital *unshielded* delivery.
gollark: Yes, so you would need to buy an Amazon Prime+++ subscription.
gollark: They would probably need parachutes or something too, or they might destroy things.
gollark: When you need something delivered, the nearest Amazon satellite will put it in a sturdy metal box with heat-shielding, and fire it on the right trajectory, and your parcel will arrive in minutes!

References
  1. "Major League Baseball Players From the Cape Cod League" (PDF). capecodbaseball.org. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  2. Prospect McHugh set to make debut Thursday
  3. "Mets 101 Game Preview: Colorado Rockies at New York Mets". Archived from the original on 2013-10-29.
  4. "McHugh's sensational debut goes unrewarded". MLB.com. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  5. "Mets option McHugh to make room for Hefner". MLB.com. Archived from the original on 27 August 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  6. "Mets Trade McHugh For Eric Young Jr.; Designate Cowgill For Assignment". CBS News New York. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  7. Footer, Alyson (December 18, 2013). "Astros claim McHugh off waivers from Rockies". MLB.com. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  8. "Astros hire A.J. Hinch as manager". ESPN.com. Associated Press. September 29, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  9. Macklin, Oliver. "McHugh out at least 6 weeks with elbow injury". MLB. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  10. McTaggart, Brian; Gurnick, Ken. "Houston Astros win 2017 World Series". MLB. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  11. "Collin McHugh says Astros pitchers didn't do right thing, weren't 'brave'". espn.com. March 6, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  12. Clemens, Ben (March 18, 2019). "Aroldis Chapman's Other Best Pitch". fangraphs.com.
  13. "Astros Roster & Staff – Transactions". MLB.com. October 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  14. Mahoney, Andrew (March 5, 2020). "Red Sox sign former Astros pitcher Collin McHugh". The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  15. Bradford, Rob (July 19, 2020). "Collin McHugh won't be playing for Red Sox this season". WEEI (AM). Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  16. Verougstraete, Shelly (March 11, 2020). "Looking at the career path of Collin McHugh". overthemonster.com. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  17. "Red Sox Roster & Staff: Transactions". MLB.com. July 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  18. "2018日米野球 MLBオールスターチーム コーチ・出場予定選手発表". 野球日本代表 侍ジャパン オフィシャルサイト (in Japanese). October 29, 2018. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  19. "Astros' Collin McHugh helping to raise money for cancer research and patient care". Chron. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  20. "The Twelve Six Podcast". twelvesixpodcast.libsyn.com. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  21. "McHugh debuts podcast with McCullers as guest". MLB.com. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
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