Monday, August 01, 2016

Welcome to the Blue, Rich Hill!


Now that you've had time to welcome in outfielder Josh Reddick to the Dodgers, I thought I would officially introduce starting pitcher Rich Hill.  As you surely know by now, the Dodgers also attained the services of left-handed starter Rich Hill.  Per Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider:
Hill has had an unusual career. At age 36, in his 12th Major League season, he has only 576 big-league innings to his name. He actually is on the disabled list right now, dating back to July 20, because of a blister issue. He also missed pitching in June because of a left groin strain.

However, when healthy in 2016, he has dominated, throwing 76 innings in 14 starts with a 2.25 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings.
Jeff Sullivan at FanGraphs adds more:
And when he’s pitched, Hill’s been fantastic. I know that Chris Sale should be considered the better pitcher. I know there are other AL candidates, too. But I can share with you some facts. Among starting pitchers this season, only Kershaw has a lower ERA- than Hill. Only Kershaw, Noah Syndergaard, and Jose Fernandez have a lower FIP- than Hill. Only Kershaw and Jake Arrieta have a lower OPS allowed. There’s no arguing those facts, so even if you build in some whisper of decline moving forward, Hill has set for himself a high bar. Just because he has an improbable story doesn’t mean it’s improbable for him to stay good.
I am uncertain when exactly Hill will be available to pitch.

In celebration of Rich coming to the Dodgers I made the above fantasy Baseball card of him.  I used a photo grabbed from SF Gate/Carlos Osorio/Associated Press and the 1982 Topps Baseball card design.

Below are his career stats, via Baseball Reference:


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