Phil Hughes turns 29 next Wednesday. He is in the prime of his career.
So it greatly perplexes the Twins right-hander to experience such a sustained drop in his arm strength and velocity.
A fastball that averaged 92-93 mph in recent seasons has dipped into the low-90s. Sunday at Texas, in his last start on a muggy afternoon, Hughes struggled to touch 90 mph on the stadium radar gun.
"He's very frustrated," said Twins pitching coach Neil Allen, who says Hughes is down 2 mph with his four-seam fastball. "He can't compete the way he'd like to compete, so he's a little discouraged right now.