Gabriel Hughes – a 6-foot-4, 230-pound right-hander whose fastball has touched 97 mph — used to be an angry pitcher.

“You could almost see flames coming out of my ears,” said Hughes, Gonzaga University’s Friday night starter. “I’m an intense and focused person. On the mound, that was compounded. I would sit at the end of the dugout, and I wouldn’t talk to anyone. I wouldn’t even look at anyone.”

Hughes used that approach to launch a successful career, sporting a 0.77 ERA in 11 2/3 innings as a true freshman in the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

Last year, however, Hughes noted his inconsistency, alternating strong starts with poor performances. His overall numbers were good – 4-3, 3.23 in 10 starts – but Hughes started to listen to Will Kempner, Gonzaga’s Saturday starter.

“Will would ask me: ‘Why are you so mad? Loosen up’,” said Hughes, 20. “This year, I’ve started smiling, which had been unheard of or insane for me. 

“I still have the same intensity, but now I have better balance.”

Hughes’ attitude adjustment is working.

In four starts, Hughes is 3-0, 2.16 with 36 strikeouts in 25 innings. Batters are hitting just .159 against Hughes, who has allowed eight walks.

Three of his starts have gone six innings: He had a 10-strikeout, one-walk performance against New Mexico; struck out nine to beat Cal State Fullerton; and he allowed just one unearned run in a victory over Long Beach State.

Hughes’ other start was perhaps the best one of his career, beating then-fourth-ranked Oklahoma State, 4-3, in Stillwater. In that game, Hughes struck out 11 batters and walked just one in seven innings. He threw 106 pitches, but there was one that cost him for a two-run double with two outs in the seventh.

“He tried to go back to the cookie jar and threw a fastball up to a lefty hitter,” Gonzaga pitching coach Brandon Harmon said. “But he was in command against a really good lineup.”

Gonzaga’s baseball history goes back all the way to 1890, and the Spokane, Washington school helped send its first player to the major leagues in 1910, when pitcher Dave Skeels made his debut.

But since the MLB Draft started in 1965, only four Gonzaga players have cracked the first round, and Hughes would love to become the fifth.

“That’s been a huge goal of mine for the past year,” Hughes said.

Hughes said ex-Zags lefty Marco Gonzalez – who was a first-rounder in 2013 and is now part of the Seattle Mariners’ rotation – has served as his role model.

The other ex-Gonzaga first-rounders are pitcher Clayton Mortensen (No. 36 in 2007); second baseman Lenn Sakata (No. 10 in 1975 secondary draft); and pitcher/shortstop Mike McNeilly (No. 3 in January 1972 and No. 10 in June 1972).

Hughes has the potential to join that group due to many factors, including size, character, production, and a pitching assortment that relies mostly on his fastball and slider.

That fastball sits 94-96 and is still riding at 92-94 in the late innings. He has taken a bit off his slider – from 89-90 to 81-84 – to give it more depth and sweeping movement. He also has a changeup that he has added this year, and a curve that he uses sparingly.

In addition to his pitching ability, Hughes is also a terrific student. He is majoring in Biology and has a 3.65 grade-point average. Depending on how his pro baseball career goes, Hughes could opt for medical school, following his parents, who are both doctors.

Hughes is so blessed in so many ways that Harmon calls him the golden boy.

“Whenever he gets another award,” Harmon said with a laugh, “his teammates mess with him and say, ‘Good for you, buddy. Another accolade.’

“Gabe takes the kidding in stride. But this is who Gabe is – high school valedictorian. He’s going to graduate from Gonzaga in three years. He’s a good-looking kid, 6-foot-4.

“There’s a lot of buzz from scouts on Gabe. He is pitching himself into the first round or early second for sure. But when he gets into meetings with pro teams, they will see what kind of person he is, his confidence paired with his repertoire.”

Hughes is set to become the second member of his family to play pro baseball. His grandfather, Donald Hughes, was a minor-league first baseman who played three seasons in the Detroit Tigers’ organization. Gabriel can thank his grandfather – who is 6-5 – for his height.

There’s another potential pro in the family: 6-3, 230-pound right-hander Jacob Hughes, who is Gabriel’s brother and a true freshman for the Oregon Ducks. Jacob is 1-0, 1.93 in 9 1/3 innings this season.

Gabriel Hughes is from Eagle, Idaho, a suburb of Boise.

Hughes describes his childhood as “idyllic”. He played baseball, basketball, and football as a kid. However, his football “career” didn’t last past the sixth grade.

“I didn’t like to hit or be hit,” Hughes said.

When Hughes was nine, his parents, Dustan, and Julie, adopted four children – two girls and two boys — who are all siblings. They ranged at that time from age one to six.

Katie is now 18, Jessie is 16, Michael is 15, and Joe is 14.

“They all look up to Gabriel,” Julie Hughes said.

Gabriel Hughes said going from a family of four to one of eight took some adjusting.

“But it taught me patience, compassion and empathy,” Hughes said.

Another of Hughes’ qualities is loyalty.

He got his first college scholarship offer from Gonzaga, and he committed almost immediately. Just before the start of his sophomore season at Rocky Mountain High in Meridian, Idaho, Hughes toured Gonzaga. At the end of the visit, he gave his commitment to Gonzaga coach Mark Machtolf.

“I fell in love with the place as soon as I got on campus,” Hughes said. “I love the smaller campus, the baseball program, the passion of the coaches and the academics.”

Harmon said Gonzaga offered Hughes after seeing him just once, at a regional event in August of 2016.

“It was an immediate yes for us,” Harmon said. “He was just 16, but he had a high level of maturity for his age. He’s a phenomenal young man.”

Hughes was a projectable 6-4 and 180 pounds at the time, and he quickly justified Gonzaga’s early faith in him. Hughes ultimately became Idaho’s Gatorade Player of the Year with a 0.91 prep ERA and a .365 batting average with seven homers.

He arrived at Gonzaga as a two-way player. But the turning point for Hughes came last year on April 27 when he injured his right hand while swinging and missing at a pitch while serving as DH in Gonzaga’s 7-5 win over Washington State. 

“It was a 2-0 count, and I was sitting slider,” Hughes said. “I’m a free swinger. I see the ball, and I’m thinking, ‘Great. I’ve got a hanging slider.’ 

“But it was a fastball inside. I swung anyway. I missed, and the ball hit the knuckle on my right pointer finger. My hand got swollen, but I stayed in the game, and I got a single through the six-hole on my final at-bat.”

With the universal DH now in the majors, that stands as the final at-bat of Hughes’ hitting career. He finished last year with a .616 OPS and three homers in 73 at-bats.

More importantly, Hughes missed the rest of last season due to a hairline fracture. Gonzaga finished 34-19, including a 1-2 record and a shutout win over LSU in the Eugene Regional.

That injury was a turning point for Hughes in three ways.

First, it forced Hughes to give up hitting to focus on pitching, which hasn’t been an easy sacrifice.

“I knew it was coming at some point, and I was trying to delay the inevitable,” Hughes said. “But it was still incredibly tough. You do something your entire life and then must give it up … That’s difficult, no matter what it is.”

Secondly, the time off from pitching helped Hughes’ changeup.

“I couldn’t put a ton of pressure on my pointer finger, so I worked on what was essentially a changeup grip between my middle and ring fingers,” Hughes said.

Harmon said Hughes now gets good arm-side run and depth with his changeup, which has a chance at developing into a swing-and-miss pitch.

Lastly, the time away from pitching last year helped Hughes finally relax.

He started hanging out more with Kempner and other friends at the “324 garage house”. They were also among a group of roommates who started taking three-mile hikes up scenic locations such as Nine Mile Falls and the Rocks of Sharon.

However, Hughes’ newly expanded social life has not included a seat in the gym to watch the nation’s No. 1 men’s basketball team, the mighty Gonzaga Bulldogs.

Gonzaga’s McCarthey Athletic Center fits only 6,000 fans, and apparently there hasn’t been room for Hughes in the “Kennel Club” student section.

“I wish,” Hughes said when asked if he’s seen the Zags in person this season. “It’s a complex ticket-distribution system. Tickets are hard to come by, and the gym is absurdly small for the No. 1 team in the nation.”

Fortunately for Hughes, Gonzaga baseball – off to an 11-4 start that includes a three-game sweep at Oklahoma State – is becoming a tough ticket, too.

With a rotation that includes Hughes, Kempner (0-1, 1.69) and Trystan Vrieling (1-1, 3.24), this could be the year the Zags win their first baseball regional.

“The goal is Omaha,” Hughes said, “and we believe we have the talent to get there.”

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