National Post (National Edition)
Pitcher’s perseverance finally pays off
Nomadic Hill lands big deal with Dodgers
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD. • This was Rich Hill’s moment, up on stage at the winter meetings Monday, back in the uniform of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The team had just agreed to give him US$48 million for the next three years, a payday usually impossible for journeyman pitchers who are soon to be 37 years old. Hill slipped into the jersey, sat before a microphone and took a moment to compose himself. His voice cracked as he spoke.
Hill’s wife, Caitlin, watched from the news conference, and she was not surprised. Her husband becomes emotional a lot, she said, but she was mostly concentrating on their son, Brice, hoping he would stay quiet. Brice is 5, and after the program ended, he leaped into his father’s arms.
It was a touching scene, but kids are kids. A few minutes later, as Caitlin Hill considered a question about her husband’s time with the Long Island Ducks. In summer 2015, Rich Hill was with Long Island in the independent Atlantic League, where players earn $2,000 or so per month. What was the best the Hills could have hoped for back then?
“Honestly?” Caitlin Hill said. “This, I guess. I just always knew he was a starter. He’s just really talented. I think it was just getting that opportunity, and the decision he made to go to Long Island and finally just do it.”
Hill had come up in that role, with the Chicago Cubs; he started a playoff game for them in 2007. But success did not last, and the game soon cast him as a reliever, a disposable body to shuttle between the majors and the minors. The year in Cleveland brought a lot of strikeouts but a 6.28 ERA. The next year brought grief.
In February 2014 the Hills lost their infant son, Brooks, who died of undisclosed medical issues less than two months after his birth. At the podium Monday, Hill thanked “my family who is here today,” and mentioned Caitlin, Brice — and Brooks. Hill’s wife knew he would.
“It’s like a gift to say his name, just to say ‘Brooks’ and include him,” Caitlin said. “It’s very important. He’s our family.”
As he dealt with personal pain in that 2014 season, Hill had no professional stability. He pitched that year for the Pawtucket Red Sox, the Los Angeles Angels, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders and the New York Yankees. The next year began with the Syracuse Chiefs, the top farm team of the Washington Nationals, before Hill exercised an opt-out clause. He was pitching well and thought another team might have a spot in the majors. No one did.
Then Hill made the decision that led to Monday’s life-changing contract. He would go back to starting, even without an affiliated team. A sidearmer in relief, he would throw over the top as a starter. His hometown team, the Boston Red Sox, had shown interest, and perhaps Hill could impress them on Long Island.
It took just two starts — 11 innings, no runs, 21 strikeouts — to get a new Red Sox deal as a starter in Pawtucket. He dazzled there and was even better in the majors down the stretch, making four starts with a 1.55 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 29 innings.
The Oakland A’s signed Hill to a one-year, US$6million contract and then flipped him to the Dodgers for prospects in August. He finished the regular season 12-5 with a 2.12 ERA, and shut out the Cubs for six innings in the playoffs.
The trick was using his curveball more than any other starter in the majors.
Curveballs and perseverance brought Hill to that big, bright stage Monday. Somebody asked if he ever thought of quitting. Caitlin knew how he would answer that, too.
“It was never an option,” she said. “He loves it.”