Key to the Yankees' Post-Season: Phil Hughes

Even though the MLB post-season is nearly a month away, six of the eight post-season spots are wrapped up, and the two wild card spots are each down to two teams, barring an epic collapse. While this is unfortunate for fans of pennant races, it's great for bloggers, as we can look forward to the playoffs. So begins our "Key to the Post-Season" series, in which we'll highlight one (or two) players who will make or break each team's post-season.

The few of you following our twitter have already seen the picks, but we will explain them a little better here on the blog in the days to come.

First up is the Yankees' reliever, Philip Hughes.

Hughes was the Yankees' number one pitching prospect for the better part of two years, but never broke out in the majors due to injury and underperformance. Going into the 2009 season, his star had lost some of its glimmer, and with a 5.45 ERA through his first 7 starts (including allowing a .507 slugging percentage), he looked like he would continue to disappoint and needed more time to be anything better than a fifth starter. But after his May 31 start, the decision was made to move Hughes to the bullpen, and there he has thrived.

Since May 31, Hughes has made 33 appearances, and the Yankees are 27-6 in those games. He's allowed just 5 runs in 41 2/3rds innings while striking out 54 and walking just 11. It's pretty apparent why he has improved so much when you take a look at his fastball velocity charts on the wonderful Fangraphs. Since moving to the pen, his average fastball has increased from the 92 mph range to around 95, and its range from 89-94 up to 94-96. He's clearly allowed himself to "air it out," which has allowed him to dominate.

Hughes has provided the stabilizing bridge from the Yankees' starters to Mariano Rivera, who is having another great season, and the rest of the pen has improved as well, since they're not facing such high-pressure situations. There's not much reason to expect Hughes to stop performing well. But this is his first extended run of success, so he hasn't proven he can keep it up, and since he has an injury history, there is a chance he could falter down the stretch.

If Hughes can't perform well, the Yankees' pen will be Rivera and whole lot of nothing. In that case, they will need a great performance from their offense and starting pitchers to win a ring.