Rich Hill

A photo of Rich Hill.

Richard Joseph "Rich" Hill (born March 11, 1980 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a left-handed Major League Baseball starting pitcher who is a free agent. Hill played for Milton High School's Varsity baseball team when he was a freshman. He is one of four to do that in the school's history. He was originally drafted by the Reds in 1999, however he decided to attend college. A 4th round pick out of the University of Michigan in the 2002 amateur draft, Hill made his major league debut on June 15, 2006. As a minor leaguer, Hill compiled high strikeout totals, and has an excellent curveball. He throws an 88-92 MPH fastball and a changeup as well. Hill spent part of the 2005 season with the Cubs, posting an 0-2 record. Again, in 2006, Hill split his season between the minor leagues and the majors. Despite his rookie status, Hill was the oldest member of the Cubs starting rotation during the second half of the 2006 season until the addition of Wade Miller.

Minor league career

Stats

Season	Team	Level	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	W	L	ERA
2002	Boise Hawks	A-	6	5	0	0	14.0	15	19	13	0	14	12	0	2	8.36
2003	Boise Hawks	A-	14	14	0	0	68.1	57	40	33	5	32	99	1	6	4.35
2003	Lansing Lugnuts	A	15	4	0	0	29.1	14	12	9	0	36	50	0	1	2.76
2004	Daytona Cubs	A+	28	19	0	0	109.1	88	64	49	9	72	136	7	6	4.03
2005	Peoria Chiefs	A	1	1	0	0	8.0	5	2	1	0	0	12	1	0	1.13
2005	West Tenn Jaxx	AA	10	10	0	0	57.2	42	22	21	9	21	90	4	3	3.28
2006	Iowa Cubs	AAA	15	15	0	0	100.0	62	22	20	3	21	135	7	1	1.80

Major league career

2005 season

Rich arrived in the big-leagues in 2005, gaining his first major league action on June 15, 2005 against the Florida Marlins. He pitched one inning of relief, giving up two runs on three hits and did not factor into the decision. His first start was on July 25, 2005 subbing for the oft-injured Kerry Wood against the San Francisco Giants. Once again he gave up two earned runs, but lasted five innings. The game was memorable due to Hill tripping over third-base on his way to the plate after a Todd Walker drive down the right-field line. With just one out and the Cubs down by one, Walker was forced to stop at first base, and Jerry Hairston, Jr. (who was behind Hill) at second. Hill did not score, and returned to third base unhurt. Unfortunately for the Cubs, the rally stopped, and Hill did not factor in the decision of the game.

2006 season

In 2006, he started the season in AAA with the Iowa Cubs, but was called up on May 4th for a start against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Rich gained attention in Chicago later in the month during the cross-town classic with the White Sox. On May 20, Hill lost to the White Sox 7-0, and was the starter in the game that saw A.J. Pierzynski run over Cubs catcher Michael Barrett at the plate in a huge collision. To that point of the season, Hill had given up 15 walks and 23 hits over 19 1/3 innings in his four major league starts with the Cubs, and had not yet established himself and was still in search of his first major league victory. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén differed with Rich stating, Who is Hill? That ... pitcher last night? Michael realized he was wrong in the interview, Michael realized he overreacted. I've known Michael; I coached Michael. Hill, he should be in Triple-A. He's going to make Dusty Baker be fired. You know, shut up. He just got up here to the big leagues; when you make a comment like that about a cheap shot, you don't know the game. ... Tell Mr. Hill to shut up and pitch before he gets sent down. Hill was sent back to AAA Iowa the next day..

Rich returned to the majors on July 27th with a start against the St. Louis Cardinals. He lasted only 3 1/3 innings, giving up four runs on six hits - walking three. On August 1st, Hill defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks for his first major league victory, and on August 6th, he got his second win and his first win streak. On September 6th, Hill fanned a career high 11 batters in a Cubs victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hill's first complete game and shutout came versus the Cincinnati Reds in a game in which he fanned 10 and allowed just two hits, on September 16th. Hill's two complete games were the only CG's by the Cub's pitching staff in the 2006 season, and he was one of the solid contributors in the rotation after being called back up, posting a 6-3 record with a 2.93 ERA.

2007 season

Rich joined the starting rotation of the Cubs out of Spring Training, and was the #4 starter in the rotation behind Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, and Jason Marquis. Hill pitched against the Milwaukee Brewers for his first start of the 2007 season, throwing a perfect game through the first five innings, and finishing with allowing just one hit, and one run over 7 innings pitched. He continued to excel during April, leading some to speculate that he was taking over as the ace in the Cubs rotation while he assembled a streak of 18 consecutive innings without an earned run. Former Cubs catcher Michael Barrett describes Rich's signature pitch as follows.

“

[Hill's] curveball is so electric that the first couple of times I caught him, I had a tendency to come up on the curve because it bites so much. You just don't see a left-handed curveball like that anymore. When he's good, it doesn't hang, and it's nearly unhittable.

”

Hill suffered a setback in Philadelphia, where he took his second loss of the season giving up five runs and left before getting any outs in the sixth inning. His next start in New York produced similar results posting his third loss, and Lou Piniella pointed to control problems. The troubles continued in San Diego during his next start, where he picked up his third consecutive loss 5-1 to the Padres and gave up four home runs. Piniella extended his analysis of Hill's throwing, Not the same pitcher that left spring training. He was missing his spots. Some of those pitches that were hit out of the park, the catcher was sitting on the outside corner and the balls are inside, but they might have been outside. He's got to keep working. He's not throwing as hard, either, for whatever reason.

Hill rebounded in his next three starts, going twenty-one innings and giving up only two earned runs. Hill matched his career-high with eleven strikeouts against the Braves on June 7, 2007.

2008 season

After having problems finding the strike zone, he was sent back down to triple-A Iowa. After having a bad start in triple-A he was sent down to Rookie ball in Mesa. He made his first start in Mesa on July 1, 2008 going only 1/3 of an inning. Lou Pinella came on saying that Rich Hill was going to be shut down. He made one more start on July 8th going 4 scoreless innings. Any thoughts of him being shut down were recalled. On July 16, 2008 he was called up to single-A Daytona. While there he made 3 starts, going 1-2.

2009 season and the Baltimore Orioles

On February 2, 2009, Hill was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for a player to be named later.

Personal

Hill attended the 2004 World Series parade in Boston as a Red Sox fan. He is the only member of the South Shore Baseball Club of Hingham, Massachusetts to play for a major league team. On November 11, 2007, Hill married Caitlin McClellan, his high school sweetheart, in Boston, MA.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube