Assesment on Hill, so far?

[YearofDaCubs]

IMO, yesterday was the best game I have ever seen Hll pitch. It could have very easily been a no hitter for him. It was that good.

Agreed. He was nasty.

[Soriano12]

He was touching 93 on the gun regulary, has he always thrown this hard?

 

I thought his fastball was around 90-91 range.

[Guest]

Look what I found - a Rich Hill blurb from BA right before the Cubs drafted him in 02:

 

Rich Hill, lhp

 

Hill was the same hot-and-cold pitcher (3-6, 3.50) this year that he was last year (3-5, 3.84), though his approach, stuff and command were consistently better. His fastball continued to hover in the 88-90 mph range, and he developed a harder curve to go with it. His curveball became his primary strikeout pitch--he fanned 98 in 69 innings, compared with 72 in 61 innings a year ago. He also cut his walks considerably. Hill went in the seventh round a year ago to the Angels as a draft-eligible sophomore and reportedly turned down $200,000. His improvement this season should bump him up into the top two or three rounds.

 

And right before the Angels drafted him in 01:

 

Rich Hill, lhp

 

Eligible for the draft as a 21-year-old sophomore, Hill hasn't enjoyed much success in two years at Michigan. Scouts see a lot of untapped potential in a 6-foot-4 lefthander with quality raw stuff. His fastball was clocked this spring at 86-89 mph, but he could become a low- to mid-90s pitcher with proper adjustments at the pro level. His curve and changeup are also in the elementary stages. Hill has had good stuff since his days as a Massachusetts high schooler and made significant strides this year with his command.

[CoolHandLuke]

His fastball was clocked this spring at 86-89 mph, but he could become a low- to mid-90s pitcher with proper adjustments at the pro level. His curve and changeup are also in the elementary stages. Hill has had good stuff since his days as a Massachusetts high schooler and made significant strides this year with his command.

 

So can we chalk this one up to our player development?

[Backtobanks]

His fastball was clocked this spring at 86-89 mph, but he could become a low- to mid-90s pitcher with proper adjustments at the pro level. His curve and changeup are also in the elementary stages. Hill has had good stuff since his days as a Massachusetts high schooler and made significant strides this year with his command.

 

So can we chalk this one up to our player development?

 

Be careful, that almost sounds like a compliment.

[TruffleShuffle]

go rich

[CoolHandLuke]

I <3 Rich!

[killthegoat06]

Win tonight!

[TruffleShuffle]

not rich's best game, but the M's offense had been hot and Rich battled the whole way. And for a lot of teams, 3 ER allowed in 6.2 IP would be enough to get a win a good portion of the time... for the Cubs, it's a miracle if you don't get tagged with the loss.

[Soul]

His fastball was clocked this spring at 86-89 mph, but he could become a low- to mid-90s pitcher with proper adjustments at the pro level. His curve and changeup are also in the elementary stages. Hill has had good stuff since his days as a Massachusetts high schooler and made significant strides this year with his command.

 

So can we chalk this one up to our player development?

 

Be careful, that almost sounds like a compliment.

 

We've developed pitchers before. That's never really been the problem, IMO. Although we do seem to burn through arms quicker than most.

 

The real issue has been the lack of positional player development, which has been discussed on these boards ad nauseum.

[TruffleShuffle]

let's hope that one-pitch rich keeps his all-star campaign going today

[soccer10k]

let's hope that one-pitch rich keeps his all-star campaign going today

 

Today isn't going to help him at all.

[tkenm356]

What the hell was wrong with him today? Did Maddux clue the team in on something? Was he tipping his pitches? EVERYONE hit Hill hard today, it was inexplicable.

 

Could it have been because Barrett is an awful defensive catcher and sucks at setting up pitches?

[Chocolate Milk]

Could it have been because Barrett is an awful defensive catcher and sucks at setting up pitches?

 

Oh, come on. I'm getting tired of defending Barrett but this stuff is getting ridiculous.

[Keener98]

Could it have been because Barrett is an awful defensive catcher and sucks at setting up pitches?

 

Oh, come on. I'm getting tired of defending Barrett but this stuff is getting ridiculous.

 

Agreed. I find it hilarious that Hill had a terrible outing and almost everybody is wanting to make excuses for him. If Brenly hadnt brought up the fact of him thinking Hill was tipping his pitches I doubt anyone else here would have said a word about it. Rich sucked today, nobody elses fault, he just sucked. Lets hope he doesnt have many more of these.

[Chocolate Milk]

I hope having to pitch to Barrett today didn't give Rich AIDS.

[tkenm356]

Hey now, I'm just throwing it out there. There had to be an explanation for Hill sucking so bad today

[Keener98]

Hey now, I'm just throwing it out there. There had to be an explanation for Hill sucking so bad today

 

Ya he sucked. He had a bad outing, it happens to just about every pitcher in the game at least once over a season. No other explanations needed.

[Guest]

What the hell was wrong with him today? Did Maddux clue the team in on something? Was he tipping his pitches? EVERYONE hit Hill hard today, it was inexplicable.

 

Could it have been because Barrett is an awful defensive catcher and sucks at setting up pitches?

 

Man, how bad was Barrett's defense and ability to set up pitches two starts ago when Rich went 8 and gave up 1 with 11 Ks?

[Ding Dong Johnson]

What the hell was wrong with him today? Did Maddux clue the team in on something? Was he tipping his pitches? EVERYONE hit Hill hard today, it was inexplicable.

 

Could it have been because Barrett is an awful defensive catcher and sucks at setting up pitches?

 

Man, how bad was Barrett's defense and ability to set up pitches two starts ago when Rich went 8 and gave up 1 with 11 Ks?

 

Barrett's declining

[tkenm356]

Okay, chock it up to rich hill just sucking really bad today. Sorry. I'll try not to ask anymore questions for the duration of my time on this forum

[Guest]

Okay, chock it up to rich hill just sucking really bad today. Sorry. I'll try not to ask anymore questions for the duration of my time on this forum

 

Come now. Your questions made it seem like Hill shouldn't have any blame today, which is why I responded the way I did (as did others). Barrett deserves blame for his offensive and defensive problems to this point this season, but no need to pile on him today. Hill's had bad games before, he'll have bad games in the future. I didn't see the first four innings so I can't tell what was the problem but he can hang his curves and if he's up too much in the zone, he's going to be hit hard.

Edited June 18, 2007 by CaliforniaRaisin

[Keener98]

Okay, chock it up to rich hill just sucking really bad today. Sorry. I'll try not to ask anymore questions for the duration of my time on this forum

 

Come now. Your questions made it seem like Hill shouldn't have any blame today, which is why I responded the way I did (as did others). Barrett deserves blame for his offensive and defensive problems to this point this season, but no need to pile on him today. Hill's had bad games before, he'll have bad games in the future. I didn't see the first four innings so I can't tell what was the problem but he can hang his curves and if he's up too much in the zone, he's going to be hit hard.

 

yea what he said.

[tkenm356]

Come now. Your questions made it seem like Hill shouldn't have any blame today, which is why I responded the way I did (as did others)

.

 

Last I checked I asked what was wrong with him and if he was tipping his pitches, two of 4 concerned questions that had to deal with blame on Rich Hill.

 

I didn't see the first four innings so I can't tell what was the problem but he can hang his curves and if he's up too much in the zone, he's going to be hit hard.

 

He was hit HARD today. Got 9 outs in his 3IP, 2 were ground outs, he struck out Maddux, he rest of the outs were deep fly ball outs that weren't lazy pop flies or miss swings, they were hit HARD, like they knew what to expect from Rich Hill. Of his 5 hits given up, 4 were extra base hits, 3 were home runs. And most of the pitches I can recall being hit hard weren't all up in the zone, some were low, some were away, some were in, some were up, they hit them all, curveball or not

 

I was just asking a questions. Yeah, I'm fed up with Barrett lately, as I'm sure a lot of folks are at this point, so I voiced my frustrations in the line I said. If Barrett was doing well as a catcher I probably would've just said "Was Barrett making bad pitch selections?" and no one would've thought anything serious of it. I fluffed it up with some anger cause I'm not digging Barrett at the moment, especially since Koyie Hill has done some great things with the pitching staff since he's been here

[Guest]

Fair enough, but Rich Hill will struggle when he doesn't hit his spots (which is what it sounded like happened today - even if they were not up). Not sure what Barrett could do to make Hill hit his spots...especially since Barrett has caught most of Hill's great outings where he was locating well and mixing up his pitches.

 

What great things has Koyie Hill done with the pitching staff? The pitching rotation had four sub-4 ERAs before Hill was called up - that is, they were good before Koyie got called up.