Free agent left-hander Rich Hill is representing the United States in the Premier12 tournament, scheduled to start Thursday night’s game. But he’s open to returning to Major League Baseball in 2025, which would be his age-45 season.
“I obviously love the game of baseball, I love the work and competition or I wouldn’t be doing this,’’ Hill says to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. “But we’ll see what the future holds as far as playing. I’m not sure if this will be it or not. I think we’ll probably know in a month or so. I’d love to play another year and have an opportunity to get into the postseason and win a World Series. That’s everybody’s dream. I’ve been close a couple of times, but it’s not like anything I’ve experienced in the game. Playing in the postseason, there’s nothing like it. Nothing at all like it.’’
Despite that willingness to keep taking the mound, he also seems to be aware the opportunity might not come. “I know I can still provide innings,” he says. “But, if not, and that’s it, I can call it on my own terms, knowing I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of really cool experiences in this game.’’ If Hill doesn’t get the playing opportunity he’s looking for, Nightengale relays that Hill would be open to non-playing roles, perhaps in coaching or some other off-field position.
Hill is coming off an experimental 2024 season that didn’t go especially well. He tried to follow through on a creative plan wherein he would intentionally sit out the first half of the season. The idea was that he could spend time with his family and keep his arm fresh for a stretch run, then pick his landing spot based on how the season was playing out.
It was an unorthodox script but one with some thought behind it. Hill signed with the Pirates in 2023 and pitched decently, posting a 4.76 earned run average. But he then got flipped to the Padres before his results backed up and the club fell from contention. The idea behind his 2024 plan was that he would save his gas for later in the year, as opposed to running out in the late summer. He would also theoretically reduce his chances of playing out the final days of the season on a club out of the race.
Unfortunately, the theory turned out to be better than the praxis in this case. Hill followed through on his plan by keeping his arm ready on his own time. But then he settled for a minor league deal for the Red Sox, a fringe contender, in the middle of August. They did add him to their roster in late August but let him make just four relief appearances, in which he posted a 4.91 ERA, before designating him for assignment and then releasing him.
Presumably, Hill is considering a move back to a more traditional timeline for next year, since he says he’ll probably know “in a month or so” whether he’s coming back or not. The 2024 season doesn’t give him much to market to clubs, but he was a fine innings eater for the first half of 2023 and had an ERA around 4.00 in the two prior campaigns. He tossed 158 2/3 innings in 2022 with a 3.86 ERA and then a 4.27 ERA over 124 1/3 innings in 2023.
Given Hill’s age, it’s remarkable that continuing to pitch is even a consideration, but his career arc has rarely taken the obvious path. He had some early career success almost 20 years ago now, including throwing 195 innings in 2007 with a 3.92 ERA. But injuries and underperformance led to a decade of him toiling away without much to show for it. From 2008 to 2014, he was only able to throw 153 big league innings with a 5.41 ERA, bouncing around to various clubs.
But then he had an amazing career resurgence that started in 2015. He parlayed a strong showing with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League into a deal with the Red Sox. A tiny 1.55 ERA in four starts with Boston led to a $6M guarantee on a one-year pact with the Athletics for 2016. He would post a 2.12 ERA that year between Oakland and the Dodgers, getting traded midseason. That led to a three-year, $48M deal to return to Los Angeles, a contract that started in his age-37 season, an amazing time for a pitcher to get his big payday.
He gave the Dodgers 327 innings with a 3.30 ERA over the course of that deal. His time with the Dodgers was also when he got most of the postseason experience that he clearly treasures. He did toss three playoffs innings for the Cubs way back in 2007 but then 50 postseason frames for the Dodgers from 2016 to 2019. Unfortunately, a ring eluded him in that time. The Dodgers finally won it all in 2020, their first title since 1988, but Hill signed with the Twins that year.
The results haven’t been as good lately, but that’s not really too surprising, considering his age. Perhaps Hill can again defy the odds and engineer another comeback. If not, one of the more unique trajectories will finally wind down.
