Sure, he’s 40 years old but try telling Nelson Cruz that’s a
milestone anyone should care about. The reality is that Hill has both been
often hurt and often good. Good probably isn’t even a fair assessment, he’s
been downright great. His 3.00 ERA dating back to 2016 is the 6th best mark in Major League Baseball. He’s coming off a season in which he posted
an outstanding 2.45 ERA across 13 starts for the Dodgers, and he hasn’t had a
year with less than double-digit strikeouts per nine innings since 2012.
In a world where velocity is king, Hill laughs at the
notion. He flips his fastball up there at an average of 90.6 mph, and that’s
not much of a decline considering the peak was 92.9 mph in 2012 with the Red
Sox. He’s learned to live with what he has, and there’s very little surprise in
how he’ll attack you.
Last season Hill utilized just two pitches. His four seem
fastball was chosen 52% of the time while his big breaker was utilized at a
45.8% clip. The velo change on that curveball is staggering, dropping 15 mph
all the way down to an average of 74.5. It’s not that those two types of
pitches are anything special, but it is that when they derive from Hill’s hand,
they’re nothing short of majestic.
Hill’s fastball spin ranks in the 91st
percentile, but it’s the bender that gets the love here. The curveball has an
average spin rate of 2919 RPM, or 4th best among pitchers that threw
at least 300 of them a season ago. It’s in the 95th percentile
across the league, and it’s why Hill’s hard-hit rate is an elite 98 percentile
tally.
That curveball is a thing of beauty in and of itself. With a
combined 12 inches of vertical and horizontal movement above league average,
barreling it remains one of the league’s toughest tasks. It’s why a hitter can
step in and know they have just two pitches to look for, but still be frozen on
a meaty fastball right down the gut.
You might argue there’s nothing flashy about what Hill does
on the mound, and that’s probably a fair assessment. There is a level of
intrigue or a mystique feeling about how he competes, however. The stuff may
lull you to sleep but being that dominant by going virtually against the grain
is something we don’t see in baseball anymore.
Minnesota brought Hill in to bolster a rotation down the stretch.
Now he’ll work right from the jump and could end up being the heart of it. When
the dust settles, he’ll look to add onto his 53 Postseason innings, and those
that add onto the 15 he’s pitched in the World Series could certainly culminate
with a ring.
