*Photo from Metsmerized Online*
The Milton, Massachusetts native is heading home, for the 7th time. The Boston Red Sox and LHP Rich Hill have agreed to a one year, $5 million deal, with another $3 million in bonuses, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Red Sox have confirmed the deal.
After long tours around the country to pitch for different teams, Hill has maintained his residence in Milton, a town just to the south of Boston. This will be the 3rd tenure he will pitch in the majors for the Red Sox, and it's the 7th free agent deal he's signed with the Red Sox in his career.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said of bringing back Hill that "This guy is one of the best competitors in our game. And it seems like he doesn't age. Wherever he goes, he has success. Not only is he a good pitcher, but he's a tremendous clubhouse presence."
Last season, split between the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Mets, Hill finished the season with a 7-8 record, with a 3.86 ERA and 1.21 WHIP, striking out 150 hitters while tossing 158 2/3 innings, starting 31 games and making one relief appearance. Hill has a career 74-52 record with a 3.80 ERA, throwing 1/134 2/3 innings in 195 starts and 129 relief appearances in 17 big league seasons.
Hill is returning to his hometown team Red Sox, who also gave Hill his career back. After pitching for the independent league Long Island Ducks after being released by the Washington Nationals, the Red Sox signed Hill near the end of the 2015 season. He returned to a starting role, only for 4 starts as it was the end of the season, but he sure made the most of it. He had a 2-1 record with a 1.55 ERA in 29 innings across those 4 starts.
That was just the beginning of the revitalization of Hill's career. After joining the Los Angeles Dodgers in the middle of the 2016 season, Hill became a prominent and important pitcher in the Dodgers rotation, being a key cog in their World Series runs in both 2017 and 2018. It was game 4 of the 2018 World Series where he made a start against the Red Sox, and pitched 6 1/3 brilliant innings before he was taken out.
In addition to being in baseball for 17 seasons, Hill has seemingly been with every team imaginable. He has spent time with the Red Sox, Dodgers, Nationals, Mets, Rays, Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Angels, and Baltimore Orioles, suiting up for 12 different teams over the course of his 17 seasons.
As a pitcher, Hill had a 34.8 percent hard hit rate against him last season, finishing in the 79th percentile among qualified pitchers. Hill also has an effective pitch mix, mostly relying on a four seam fastball and curveball mix, also adding in a cutter, slider, sinker, and changeup to his pitch arsenal. His ground ball rate was much lower than his 35.9 percent average, but he's still an effective out getter, still useful in baseball today.
The Red Sox signing of Hill comes on the heels of two more starting pitching additions for Boston. They've signed LHP James Paxton and RHP Michael Wacha to contracts this offseason, and traded Hunter Renfroe for Jackie Bradley Jr and two prospects.
Comments
Post a Comment