DENVER -- Right-handed pitcher Gabriel Hughes arrived at Coors Field on Wednesday for his first day in the Major Leagues to a cleverly lit locker with his name in large, white letters, a plush chair with his No. 43 stitched and applied to the back.
And old friend Troy Johnston in a locker across the room, ready to greet him.
It was much different from the first time the two met.
Johnston is now a key part of the Rockies’ lineup. But back then, Johnston was a standout at Gonzaga University in his junior season. Hughes was a high school player out of Rocky Mountain High School in Meridian, Idaho, who had committed to Gonzaga for the 2020 season and was visiting the Spokane, Wash., campus for his recruiting weekend.
At that time, the coolest furniture greeting Hughes was the couch of Johnston’s living quarters. The rest was, well, chaos.
“He actually slept on the couch at my house, which is funny because my current wife was living there,” Johnston said. “We had dogs. It was a crazy house. We actually called it ‘The Zoo.’ He remembers that. I had totally forgotten that was the name. He reminded me in Spring Training.”
How many dogs?
“We had up to 10 dogs at a time,” Johnston said. “And my roommates were idiots, OK? So he slept on the couch.”
Just in case any of said roommates became successes and pillars of the community, Johnston spoke with affection. The Johnstons still have one of the dogs that helped host Hughes’ recruiting weekend, a Boston Terrier-French Bulldog mix named Pigsley, for her curly tail.
Hughes, the Rockies' No. 16 prospect, endured Tommy John surgery in 2023 and other injuries, such as a left oblique problem this season, to put together an eye-catching recent run at Triple-A Albuquerque and earn the callup. A starter throughout his life and career, outside of a few scheduled relief appearances during Spring Training, Hughes will work in long relief in what has been a tired and beleaguered Rockies bullpen.
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With a dream being realized and an unusual role to boot, it helps to have a familiar face and a nice memory of himself at his former school with four-legged friends.
“I don’t know how many there were,” he said. “I have a video of at least one. At the time I was there, I think there were maybe three, but I don’t remember.”
To think: Before receiving the call from Albuquerque manager Pedro Lopez at 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Hughes was planning a reunion with another Gonzaga product.
“It’s really cool -- there are only so many pro Zags who are still playing,” Hughes said. “It’s funny. I was in Round Rock and was supposed to start tonight against Marco Gonzales. I met him at Gonzaga and I have his number. Alec Jacobs, who has been up and down with San Diego, went there.
“It’s really cool to play with one of them here [Johnston], especially since I didn’t have the opportunity to play with him when I was in college.”
Hughes has a comfort level with several Rockies. Reliever Jaden Hill, a high Draft choice who has overcome injuries and forged a career the way Hughes wants, “ran across, gave me a big hug.” Hughes is fluent in Spanish, and before Wednesday’s game with the Marlins he played catch with offseason training partner Antonio Senzatela. In past Spring Trainings, Hughes received mentorship in Spanish from Senzatela and Germán Márquez (now with the Padres).
Might as well have some familiarity.
Part of Hughes’ success came from simplifying strategy and settling on a routine -- acts that helped him relax and focus. The Rockies believe he will learn.
“With a lot of our players, we’re saying you’ve got to be able to do a couple of different things,” general manager Josh Byrnes said. “But he’s been through a lot, from first round to where he is now. He’s been throwing great this year so we feel like he can help us, and he has a great future starting now.”
Manager Warren Schaeffer said Hughes will be used in instances where the Rockies need “three, four, five innings -- and that’s how he’s going to help our team. That’s what we need.”
Hughes has a four-seam fastball around 93 mph, and the development of his sweeper this year highlights his adaptability.
“One time on the back fields, I asked Michael Lorenzen how he held his and started messing around with it,” Hughes said. “In the next bullpen, I told [assistant pitching coach] Gabe Ribas, ‘I'm gonna throw a sweeper.’ He said, ‘I don’t know if you really have the arm slot for it.’
“I said, ‘Why not?’ I threw the first one about 10 feet over the catcher’s head. I said, ‘I’m done with it.’ He said, ‘No, let’s see a couple more.’ I’m thankful he believed in me.”
Maybe if a guy can sleep through barking, from four-legged friends and the odd roommate, he can adapt to anything.