David Huff

David Huff - Left-handed Pitcher
Age: 23 Height: 6'2" Weight: 190 Bats: Left Throws: Left

	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	BB9	K9	WHIP
2007 Kinston	4	2	2.71	11	11	0	59.7	57	18	4	15	46	2.26	6.93	1.21
Career	4	3	3.08	15	15	0	67.3	66	23	4	22	54	2.94	7.22	1.31

History: Huff was a supplemental 1st round pick and the first player the Indians selected in the 2006 Draft out of UCLA. After signing, Huff reported to Mahoning Valley, but since he logged so many innings at UCLA earlier in the year he only made four appearances going 0-1 with a 5.87 ERA in 7.2 IP. At UCLA, Huff compiled a 7-4 record and a 2.98 ERA in 16 starts, while striking out 100 in 129.2 innings pitched.

Strengths & Opportunities: Coming out of college, Huff was often compared to Tom Glavine, Barry Zito and Jeremy Sowers. The comparisons to Zito not only came from his approach and repertoire, but Huff's coach at UCLA (John Savage) was also Zito's pitching coach at USC. Huff is a strike-thrower who has excellent command of his pitches. His fastball consistently clocks in at 88-91 MPH, and his changeup is a plus pitch and ranked one of the best in the country coming into the draft.

While he does not overpower hitters, he has unbelievable confidence in his fastball, and commands it well working it to both sides of the plate and to the corners on all four quadrants. He has the best fastball command in the entire system, and is a very polished pitcher. He is aggressive and attacks hitters, and he has a great, athletic delivery which deceives hitters and he repeats it well.

After experiencing soreness on the back of his elbow in late May, Huff was shutdown and it was discovered that he had a strained ligament in his throwing elbow. The Indians feel the injury may have lingered for most of the season as the elbow had been bothering Huff for some time, and they believe they caught the injury before it could get worse. While he only made 11 starts in Kinston last year, he pitched well and was in line for a quick callup to Akron. Huff made up for some of the lost work by pitching in the Arizona Fall League (AFL) this offseason where he went 1-1 with a 6.06 ERA in seven games and posted 15 strikeouts in 16.1 innings pitched. It should be noted the ERA is ballooned by two bad outings, as overall he was outstanding and scouts raved about him in his other appearances.

Huff looks healthy, knows how to pitch, and is smart. He is a pitcher you like to watch pitch because he moves the ball around in and out, gets the breaking ball and changeup over and knows how to use them. The key to Huff's future will be the development of an effective breaking ball as a third pitch to use against left-handers. He does throw a curveball, but it still needs a lot of work, and his slider is just average.

Outlook: Going into last season, the Indians felt Huff had the chance to advance through the farm system rapidly like Jeremy Sowers did, but the elbow injury slowed him down. With most of the Indians top pitchers slotted to be in Buffalo to start the season, Huff likely will start the year in the Akron rotation.

Video: Huff on the mound

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