Hughes attended
Rocky Mountain High School in
Meridian, Idaho. In 2018, his junior year, he had a 7–1
win–loss record with a 1.84
earned run average (ERA) and 59
strikeouts while
batting .461. He was named the Idaho
Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year. As a senior in 2019, he went 7–1 with a 0.95 ERA and 65 strikeouts alongside batting .365 with seven home runs and was named the Gatorade player of the year for the second straight season. That summer, he played in the
West Coast League for the
Bellingham Bells. Unselected in the
2019 Major League Baseball draft, he enrolled at
Gonzaga University to play
college baseball for the
Gonzaga Bulldogs. As a freshman at Gonzaga in 2020, Hughes had a 0.77 ERA with 13 strikeouts over innings before the season was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. He spent the summer playing in the
Northwoods League for the
Great Lakes Resorters. In 2021, as a redshirt freshman, he started ten games and went 4–3 with a 3.23 ERA and 67 strikeouts over innings while also starting 31 games at first base, batting .247 with three home runs. His season ended early after breaking a knuckle while batting. That summer, he was selected to play for the
U.S. Collegiate National Team. Hughes entered the 2022 season as a preseason All-American and Gonzaga's number one starter. He also switched his focus solely to pitching after being a
two-way player in previous seasons. He started 15 games during the season and went 8–3 with a 3.21 ERA and 138 strikeouts over 98 innings. Following the season, he traveled to
San Diego where he participated in the draft combine. ==Professional career==