Gallardo Joins Hughes On Shelf

Yovani Gallardo, the Milwaukee Brewers version of Phil Hughes, is most likely out for the season after tearing his ACL during a collision at first base.

Gallardo, a 22 year-old righthander, boasts similar stuff to Hughes - fastball 90-94 and filthy curve - and similarly dominated at the minor league level before breaking into the big leagues last year. Also like Hughes, the injury bug has caught hold of Gallardo who had already missed the beginning of the season after needing arthroscopic surgery to repair a different knee ailment.

It's getting tough out there on the streets for young pitching prospects:

An examination in Milwaukee this morning revealed Gallardo suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in that collision with Chicago's Reed Johnson near first base in the fifth inning.

No decision will be made on surgery until the swelling subsides in Gallardo's knee. But he in all likelihood will miss most if not all the rest of the season, a severe blow to the Brewers' chances in 2008.

Gallardo missed the first three weeks of the season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to repair torn cartilage.

Regardless of what some loud blowhard wants to spew out with clueless regularity [see: Russo, Chris], both of these young guns, barring major injury, will become solid rotation fixtures for years to come.

Watching Gallardo and Hughes pitch is to take a glimpse into the future of their respective franchises, and both youngsters have been exciting and interesting to gauge when they took the mound over the past year.