In 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the novel “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” 45 years later, the novel was made into a film starring Fredric March. The infamous story is about Dr. Henry Jekyll who developed a drug to bring out the evil side in him aka Mr. Hyde. When taking the potion, Dr. Jekyll goes from the mild-mannered scientist, to a homicidal creature. If you had to pick a Pirate that fit this description, it’s without a doubt Jared Hughes.
In the clubhouse, Hughes is all smiles and talks to everyone that is around him. When he’s on the field however, Hughes stomps around the mound and makes what he calls his mean face. When I approached Hughes about how it all started, he couldn’t help but start laughing.
“It started when I was a kid on the playground playing basketball or kickball, I really wanted to win,” Hughes said. “I was one of those kids that was a sore loser growing up. I would get beat and I would get so mad, that I couldn’t talk to any of my friends for the rest of the day. I was that kid that no one wanted to play with.”
Hughes said that while he is the one on the team that shows it the most, the whole team is filled with competitive guys.
“I’m a competitive guy,” Hughes said. “We have a lot of competitive guys on this team. In here, we’re all friends and family. On the field, it’s time to win so we get real competitive and real angry.”
And the competitiveness has helped Hughes remain on the big league team after going down to Indianapolis a few times this season. The rookie ranks third on the Pirates with a 2.08 ERA and has a 2-0 record. While he is holding opponents to a .220 batting average against, the sinker ball pitcher said he actually hopes the opposition puts the ball in play and the stare isn’t a form of intimidation.
“I’m not so worried what the hitters think of me,” Hughes explained. “I’m focused on making the pitch. I’m focused on executing the ball down and being aggressive. I actually want them to hit the ball so my fielders can field and get them out.”
When I asked Hughes if he grew up watching Dan Miceli or Mike Fetters, both notorious for their on the mound presence, Hughes smiled and said he watched them both while growing up, but never tried to copy them – at least not right away.
“I’ve seen them both pitch, but I’ve never pitched like that until I got put into the bullpen,” Hughes said. “When they put me there, I was like ‘Ok I’m going to let it eat and give it all I have because I don’t have to pace myself.’ That’s kind of where the transformation happened.”
Hughes said while can turn the switch off and on, it doesn’t always happen right away.
“Sometimes it takes me a couple minutes to turn it off,” Hughes said jokingly. “It takes me a little while to cool down because I get really pumped up. Right now in the clubhouse, we’re family and talking about our off day. Give it another couple hours and it’s going to be go time.”
If fans and the media have noticed it, his teammates and coaches have had to also right?
“Clint (Hurdle) was calling me ‘Tackleberry” I guess that has kind of stuck and is the nickname for now unless you’ve heard something else,” Hughes said jokingly. “The guys make fun of me and ask me to make the mean face, but I just laugh it off.”
And laugh it off Hughes did as he was in touch with his inner Dr. Jekyll at the time of the interview. But when I asked if his old habits of being a sore loser have gone away, you could sense a little Mr. Hyde.
“(Laughs) Honestly, not really,” Hughes said. “I still get really upset every time we lose. But at the same time, you have to learn from it. Failure is a big part of the game. If you learn from it, it’s going to make you a better player in the long run and a better team.”
Photo credits: Getty Images
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