Rockies prospect Sam Hilliard
The Rockies already struck gold once with a hardly recruited high school player who washed out as a pitcher in college, only to go on to become an all-star outfielder in the big leagues.
And if Sam Hilliard has anything to say about it, Colorado just might strike the same sort of gold it did with Charlie Blackmon.
Hilliard’s in his first season manning the outfield for Triple-a Albuquerque. A left-hander with natural power, speed and ample athleticism, he’s a .279 career hitter in the minors who was in big-league camp each of the past two spring trainings.
Not bad for a 25-year-old who didn’t start on his varsity team at Mansfield High School (Texas) until halfway through his junior year, and his lone offer out of there came from Navarro Community College. From the bench at Navarro, Hilliard transferred to Crowder College, where he found enough success in the box and as a southpaw to earn a scholarship to Wichita State.
“At Crowder, I really started to put together my game, and my work ethic got a lot better,” Hilliard said. “I started to really figure out how to play. I was doing a lot better at the time as pitcher than a hitter, and I went to Wichita State as a two-way guy.”
Hilliard batted .290 with 56 RBIS for Crowder that year, also going 5-2 with a 2.14 ERA on the mound. He passed on being selected as a pitcher in the 31st round by the Twins and once he arrived at the Division I level in 2015, he realized the strength in his game shifted one obvious way.
“In juco, I was basically blowing fastballs by guys (at 89-94 mph) and I had a pretty good changeup,” Hilliard said. “But when I went to Division I, their approaches were better, that that didn’t work anymore. I got hit around.”
He also initially struggled at the dish with the Shockers, but the turning point came when Hilliard jolted his self-confidence — and his draft status — with home runs on three consecutive days.
“A couple weeks into that season, I pretty much said to myself, ‘Whatever happens, happens,’ and I stopped worrying about the outcome so much,” Hilliard said. “I started getting hits, and shortly before the conference tournament, we were playing Dallas Baptist University. They had a bunch of talented arms out of the bullpen throwing really hard, but I hit those three homers, and I did it in a front of a bunch of scouts.”
Since the Rockies took Hilliard in the 15th round of the 2015 draft, he has progressed quickly through the system as a midseason all-star each of the past three seasons with Class-a Asheville, Class-a Advanced Lancaster and Double-a Hartford.
Hitting .261 with 18 homers and 52 RBIS through 58 games for the Isotopes this year, Hilliard believes he still hasn’t reached his Triple-a ceiling.
“I haven’t lived up to my standards yet, which are set really high, but I’ve been improving in a lot of aspects in my game,” Hilliard said. “I’m trying to be more consistent, and have a more professional approach (offensively). I feel like I’m moving in the right direction.”