Phil Hughes is great on Twitter and getting better on the mound

Mike Oz

You can generally expect a couple things from Minnesota Twins pitcher Phil Hughes: He doesn’t walk too many batters and he’s pretty funny on Twitter.

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If you follow Hughes on Twitter, you know he likes to poke fun at his old teammate and buddy, Alex Rodriguez, pretty much any opportunity he gets. His sense of humor is generally dry and sarcastic, which baseball could always use more of.

You can see the baseball side of Hughes on Thursday in the MLB Free Game of the Day on Yahoo Sports. The jokes, those will come in a second. Hughes and the Twins face Derek Holland and the Chicago White Sox. It’s a 7:10 p.m. start and you can stream the game on our MLB page, the Free Game of the Day tab or this very post once the action starts.

Phil Hughes is back in the Twins rotation after surgery last year. (AP)
Phil Hughes is back in the Twins rotation after surgery last year. (AP)

When the Twins and the Chicago White Sox got rained out on Wednesday night, that gave Hughes an opportunity. He was able to watch some NHL Game 7s — and roast a Twitter troll in the process.

You come at Phil Hughes, Brett, you best not miss. Hughes, of course, was part of the New York Yankees team that beat the Philadelphia Phillies in six games in the 2009 World Series.

On the field this season, Hughes is 4-1 with a 4.32 ERA, which isn’t great but it’s at least encouraging given his circumstances. Hughes needed surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome last year, cutting short what was a pretty rough 2016 season. (That’s the same surgery Matt Harvey needed last year too).

After a 2016 season in which he carried a 5.95 ERA through 12 starts, the Twins have to be happy with what they’ve seen out of Hughes, even if the ERA would look better with a three in front of it. Hughes turned in his best start of the season last week against the Boston Red Sox. He went 6.2 innings, allowing one run on five hits.

It hasn’t all been great for Hughes in 2017, but coming back for surgery usually isn’t. Nonetheless, the Twins are competing well in the AL Central at the moment (they’re in second place at 16-14). If Hughes can turn in more quality starts, that would only help.

We on the internet would take more quality Twitter burns from him too.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!