Former Dodgers Fan Favorite Re-Signs With Hometown Team
Former Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Rich Hill is staying home.
The Massachusetts native signed a minor-league deal with the Boston Red Sox, ending his sabbatical from pitching.
Hill rejected multiple offers during the winter in order to spend time with his family and coach his son’s Little League team. He didn’t know what the market would look like for a 44-year-old looking to play half a season.
As fate would have it, the team he had signed with eight times before reached out. Boston became more serious when another former Dodgers pitcher James Paxton went down with a season-ending right calf injury. Hill might be needed as the Red Sox push for a postseason berth.
Hill’s journey back to the mound in a Boston uniform begins in Triple-A Worcester. If he gets called up, it will be his fourth separate stint with his hometown team.
“This is a special place,” Hill said in a phone interview with MLB.com on Sunday night. “Boston’s one of the best places to play in the league, if not the best, just because of the ballpark. But it’s really what the fans bring to the game because you get that immediate feedback. When you get to play at the highest level, that’s what you want. You want to get that feedback.”
Hill will travel with the WooSox to Norfolk, Va., and throw live batting practice on Tuesday. The lefty expects to pitch in a game by the end of the week.
The veteran has been anticipating this moment for months. He began throwing off a mound roughly four months ago and worked out almost every day with Jason Turner, his strength and conditioning coach who doubled as his catcher.
Boston hasn’t defined Hill’s role exactly. At this point in his career, he is willing to do what the team asks of him.
“I would do whatever, be it the old three-batter minimum or the opener or wherever,” said Hill. “Starting, coming in long relief or wherever it might be. I’ve done it all. I’ve done it pretty much at every position there is on a Major League roster as a pitcher. There’s nothing that I’m not familiar with.”
Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
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