On the Hill

When the 2014 regular season shut down for the fall and winter, a comber through the game’s history books (or more relevantly, the magic of Baseball Reference) would have found that there were exactly 20 left-handed hurlers who had made at least one appearance in at least 20 campaigns.  10 seasons in, Rich Hill hardly appeared on the path toward joining that score of southpaws in the fun club.  The 34-year-old had managed just five-and-a-third innings (in 16 appearances) in 2014 and perhaps more alarming in wagering on him ultimately doubling up his career number of seasons, Hill had been a part of seven transactions that calendar year, including two releases and an entrance into free agency in late October.

Almost 11 months later, a screech and a halt and a U-turn of abrupt – and joyful – measures took place.  On September 13, 2015, during a Sunday matinee at the home ballpark of the Rays, Hill (pitching for the Red Sox) made his first start since 2009 and … dealt:  7 IP, 1 Hit, 1 walk and 10 strikeouts.  The following Sunday, in Toronto, Hill again handled the starting reins and if he wasn’t as stingy as in Tampa (three runs allowed on seven hits), he was on par with the missing bats stuff, again fanning 10.  What was going on?  Who was this Rich Hill?  There was a giddiness in pondering such questions while gawking at the box scores, for it’s uncommon to encounter Lazarus in a pitching line.  

Five days after the outing in Toronto, the folks back in Boston finally got to see their guy up close, and Hill saved the best for this occasion at Fenway, spinning a masterful two-hit shutout with 10 K’s and a walk in a 7-0 win over the Orioles.   Three starts, 30 strikeouts in 23.0 innings, 10 hits and two walks allowed, a 1.17 ERA.  Whether alignment of the stars or voodoo or confab with the baseball gods – whatever had occurred – it was one of the brightest and coolest monuments to the season’s closing month.  And, as it turned out, Hill’s starring performance in 2015’s final act also represented the beginning of an improbable new role:   dominant – if not the sturdiest – starting pitcher.  

Over the next two seasons in 2016 and 2017, Hill – for the Athletics and Dodgers – turned in 246.0 innings over 45 starts, assembled a 1.049 WHIP, fanned 29.8% of all the batters unfortunate enough to face him and authored a 148 ERA+.  Among the 113  pitchers in the big leagues with at least 225.0 innings over that stretch, Hill owned the sixth lowest WHIP, tied for the seventh best K%, and owned the fifth best ERA+.  Among left-handers, it was just Hill and Clayton Kershaw to be so highly ranked in all three categories.  There were even seven postseason starts (tallying to a 2.93 ERA and 5-2 team record) to add some spark to Hill’s transformation.  

Over the next six seasons, Hill – representing seven franchises – kept his head above water, starting 129 games, relieving in seven others, and maintaining a 102 ERA+.  But the tail end of this part of his tale was trending poorly, and at the close of his 19th MLB season in 2023, Hill was again a free agent, but now a 43-year-old lefty with little in the recent statistical record to demand an encore.  

Once upon a time, Rich Hill had shared a starting rotation with Greg Maddux and Mark Prior and Carlos Zambrano.  He faced Miguel Cabrera when the future Hall of Famer was both a 22-year-old Marlin and a 40-year-old Tiger.  With no All-Star Games, he was one of nine from 1933-2023 to pitch at least 19 seasons with nary an invitation to the Midsummer Classic.  He had been a starter and reliever, forgotten and rebirthed, an easy touch and a pretty dominant force.  Was there anything more?

Of course, there was a little more.  On August 29, Hill made his 2024 debut, pitching one-and-a-third innings of scoreless relief for the Red Sox.  With the outing, Hill became the 22nd lefty ever to have an appearance in at least 20 seasons:  two decades worth of box scores to carry his name and help tell his story.  

The memorable, the unforgettable, they are shaped in a variety of ways.  Moonlight Graham and his one and only line in a box score.  Buzz Arlett and his single season in the Majors bookended by gargantuan Minor League campaigns or Luke Easter and his assault on AL pitching as a mid-thirties newbie.  Herb Score – representing all the incandescent bursts cut too short.  Paul O’Neill for the way apexes of baseball joy seemed to follow him around (he played in five no-hitters – three of them perfect games – to match his five World Series rings).  Julio Franco for his own interpretation of roaming and longevity and revival.   

Somewhere, I like to think, a door opened on that August evening at Fenway, after Hill made his initial pitch of the ’24 season – one that ushered him into the Hall of Cool & Interesting to hang out with Graham, Easter and the rest.  Hill didn’t necessarily need to make it 20 years in the bigs to show his credentials to this imaginary coterie – it’s more the unimaginable path he took to reaching the milestone, including that enduring, remarkable ascension that occurred when all seemed over.

Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.