He is now the varsity head coach for the Lee-Scott Academy baseball team, located in Auburn, Alabama.

During his 17-season career, Hudson established himself as one of baseball's most consistent pitchers and until 2014 had never had a season where he suffered more losses than wins.

Hudson attended Glenwood School in Phenix City, Alabama where in his senior season he led the team to the 1993 AISA state championship.

Despite his record, Hudson was considered undersized by scouts at 6'0" tall and 160 pounds and was not offered a scholarship to a major college.

In 1994, his freshman year at CVCC, he earned First-team All American honors while leading his team to the AJCCC Division II championship.

As a sophomore, he was named Second-team All American and set a school and conference record with 117 strikeouts which also led the nation.

As a pitcher, he finished 15–2 with a 2.97 ERA to earn SEC Player of the Year and consensus All-American honors.

Hudson made his Major League debut with a five inning start on June 8, 1999, against the San Diego Padres, where he allowed three earned runs in a game the Athletics eventually lost 5–3.

He became a member of Oakland's so-called "Big Three", along with left-handed pitchers Mark Mulder and Barry Zito.

Before the 2005 season, Hudson was traded to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for Charles Thomas, Dan Meyer, and Juan Cruz.

On April 29, 2007, both Hudson's grandmother and St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Josh Hancock, his college teammate at Auburn, died.

Hudson is one of only seven ballplayers who pitched in the NL in 2007 who won at least 12 games in each year from 2004 to 2007, the others being Carlos Zambrano, Greg Maddux, Roy Oswalt, Jason Marquis, Derek Lowe, and Jeff Suppan.

On August 2, 2008, Hudson revealed that he would undergo Tommy John ligament transplant surgery on his pitching elbow, and missed the remainder of the 2008 season.

Hudson's first minor-league rehab start was tentatively scheduled for July 19 at Class A Myrtle Beach.

[7] After completing several minor league rehab sessions, Hudson returned to the Atlanta Braves starting pitching rotation on September 1, 2009.

[9] On June 20, 2011, in Atlanta, Hudson hit his second career home run, a two-run shot which accounted for the only scoring in a 2–0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

[12] On April 30, 2013, Hudson became the 113th major league pitcher to reach 200 wins, with an 8–1 victory over the Washington Nationals at Turner Field.

[17] Hudson posted at the time a Major League-best and leading 1.81 ERA in his first 13 starts with the Giants, the lowest in 104 years in the 133-year history of the franchise.

[2] On September 26, 2015, Hudson started against Zito and the Athletics in a matchup that was arranged as a tribute to the A's "Big Three" of the early 2000s.

Both pitchers received lengthy standing ovations from the sold-out Oakland Coliseum crowd (which included the third Big Three member, Mulder) upon leaving the game.

The event was broadcast live on local television on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, where Giants sportscaster Jon Miller served as MC.

The ceremony included a taped video message from his Hall of Fame Braves manager Bobby Cox, speeches from president and chief executive officer Larry Baer, Bochy, and starting rotation mates Jake Peavy and Madison Bumgarner, before Hudson emotionally addressed the crowd.

[38] Shortly thereafter, Hudson accepted the position as Head Coach of the Lee Scott Academy baseball team.

Hudson has spoken about his faith saying, "It's been one of those things, where anybody that's played a sport at the professional level there's always a lot of challenges.