WTH is wrong with Hill?

[Jon]

Rich Hill allowed six runs on four walks in 2/3rds of an inning for Iowa on Friday, and the Cubs brass will huddle to see what their next step is. General manager Jim Hendry said Hill's problems are not physical.

 

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-080620-aj-pierzynski-chicago-white-sox-cubs,1,4950766.story

Well that's horribly worded. Hendry said they're likely mechanical but not related to his back.

[Joe_Cub]

Left-hander Rich Hill's seasonlong struggles are getting so bad that the Cubs might consider shutting him down for a while to give him a mental break.

 

''We'd be foolish not to be concerned,'' Hendry said after Hill failed to get through the first inning of his start Friday for Class AAA Iowa. ''He really has not improved since he's been down there. His command is not getting better. So we'll kind of get our heads together the next couple of days and decide what to do with him.''

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/1018325,CST-SPT-cubnt22.article

[E.J.]

Left-hander Rich Hill's seasonlong struggles are getting so bad that the Cubs might consider shutting him down for a while to give him a mental break.

 

''We'd be foolish not to be concerned,'' Hendry said after Hill failed to get through the first inning of his start Friday for Class AAA Iowa. ''He really has not improved since he's been down there. His command is not getting better. So we'll kind of get our heads together the next couple of days and decide what to do with him.''

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/1018325,CST-SPT-cubnt22.article

 

A mental break? Seriously?

[manbearcub]

Im sure giving him more time to think about it will help get rid of the mental problems.

[third eye]

I suppose this might be the team's way of signaling to potential trade partners that his problems are not injury related. For such an important trading chip, they might not want to risk lowering his value further.

[Soul]

Im sure giving him more time to think about it will help get rid of the mental problems.

 

Sure, there's plenty to do to keep his mind off things! Out in the bare, flooded..........barren.......fields of Iowa. :mrgreen:

[manbearcub]

Im sure giving him more time to think about it will help get rid of the mental problems.

 

Sure, there's plenty to do to keep his mind off things! Out in the bare, flooded..........barren.......fields of Iowa. :mrgreen:

Yep. I hope he like corn! \:D/

[abuck1220]

geez, they really have no idea what to do with him, huh? i guess the next stab in the dark is to just let him sit there for a couple weeks and hope he comes back good. i'm not real confident in that strategy. wow.

[Jon]

Here are his release point graphs from his starts with the Cubs this year. They definitely got more inconsistent.

 

5/2:

http://brooksbaseball.net/pfx/release.php?xml=http://gd2.mlb.com/components/game/mlb/year_2008/month_05/day_02/gid_2008_05_02_chnmlb_slnmlb_1//pbp/pitchers/448179.xml&innings=yyyyyyyyy&s_type=1&sp_type=1&h_size=700&v_size=500

 

4/23:

http://brooksbaseball.net/pfx/release.php?xml=http://gd2.mlb.com/components/game/mlb/year_2008/month_04/day_23/gid_2008_04_23_chnmlb_colmlb_1//pbp/pitchers/448179.xml&innings=yyyyyyyyy&s_type=1&sp_type=1&h_size=700&v_size=500

 

4/18:

http://brooksbaseball.net/pfx/release.php?xml=http://gd2.mlb.com/components/game/mlb/year_2008/month_04/day_18/gid_2008_04_18_pitmlb_chnmlb_1//pbp/pitchers/448179.xml&innings=yyyyyyyyy&s_type=1&sp_type=1&h_size=700&v_size=500

 

4/10:

http://brooksbaseball.net/pfx/release.php?xml=http://gd2.mlb.com/components/game/mlb/year_2008/month_04/day_10/gid_2008_04_10_chnmlb_pitmlb_1//pbp/pitchers/448179.xml&innings=yyyyyyyyy&s_type=1&sp_type=1&h_size=700&v_size=500

 

4/4:

http://brooksbaseball.net/pfx/release.php?xml=http://gd2.mlb.com/components/game/mlb/year_2008/month_04/day_04/gid_2008_04_04_houmlb_chnmlb_1//pbp/pitchers/448179.xml&innings=yyyyyyyyy&s_type=1&sp_type=1&h_size=700&v_size=500

 

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Hill is likely to be sent to Mesa.

 

Troubled left-hander Rich Hill is expected to be sent to the Cubs' spring training facility in Mesa, Ariz., to work with Mesa pitching coach Rick Tronerud.

 

Oneri Fleita,Cubs vice president of player personnel, said a final decision on Hill will be made Monday. He gave up six runs in two-thirds of an inning in his last start, and the Cubs are running out of answers.

 

"The other night he wasn't very good," Fleita said. "He'd be the first to tell you that. He's got a little work to do. It happens sometimes."

 

Link.

[Balsa]

How can you fall off being successful so fast, especially if it's not injury related... :pig:

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

The Sun-Times reports that Hill has been sent to Mesa.

 

Link.

 

The Cubs have pulled left-hander Rich Hill from the rotation at Class AAA Iowa and sent him to Mesa, Ariz., where he'll work on mechanics in side sessions. The team has no timetable for a return to competition, Hendry said.

[Donzo1679666396]

Two or three years ago, someone flipped his switch into the on position. He went from a wild curveballer into (more of) a strike throwing machine.

 

Then for some reason, Rothschild turned it off.

 

AH! Its Rothschild's fault. I just knew it couldn't be the beloved wunderkind Hill.

How about maybe the previous year and a half were more of an aberration and the league figured him out? One good pitch, one average pitch and he wasn't able to be aggressive anymore.

 

Yea, I'm not sure it's LR fault. Hill clearly states his arm angle changed from last year.

 

 

Oh no-- not at all...... We all know it's Piniella's fault---- :-({|=

[Donzo1679666396]

geez, they really have no idea what to do with him, huh?

 

i guess the next stab in the dark

 

 

is to just let him sit there for a couple weeks and hope he comes back good. i'm not real confident in that strategy. wow.

 

What?...... How did you come up with any of that?

[Tyrant]

geez, they really have no idea what to do with him, huh?

 

i guess the next stab in the dark

 

 

is to just let him sit there for a couple weeks and hope he comes back good. i'm not real confident in that strategy. wow.

 

What?...... How did you come up with any of that?

 

abuck hates the Cubs.

[TheDude]

If you carefully analyzed and broke down film of every pitcher, what are the odds that they keep the same exact arm slot with just a finite variation.

Pretty damn good.

 

I think the maintaining variables might be different than what caused the initial problems. Perhaps changing Hills mechanics was the major cause of his problems at the onset. However, I have a hard time believe that those changes are maintaining the problem. I think it is partially "mental" but mostly physical. I have no idea how to correct those problems.

 

I agree with you here. If they changed Hill's mechanics, and it wasn't working out, then you would think he could change back to what did work for 1.5 years prior in the bigs (plus the time he had in the minors with those mechanics). I'm not buying the argument that once changed, he's been ruined forever. The old, successful mechanics should have been relatively easy to recapture.

 

Hill had a reputation before his big league time of having some concentration problems. I'm much more inclined to think he's lost his confidence and now his desire before believing a change made by LR ruined him for good.

[CuseCubFan69]

If you carefully analyzed and broke down film of every pitcher, what are the odds that they keep the same exact arm slot with just a finite variation.

Pretty damn good.

 

I think the maintaining variables might be different than what caused the initial problems. Perhaps changing Hills mechanics was the major cause of his problems at the onset. However, I have a hard time believe that those changes are maintaining the problem. I think it is partially "mental" but mostly physical. I have no idea how to correct those problems.

 

I agree with you here. If they changed Hill's mechanics, and it wasn't working out, then you would think he could change back to what did work for 1.5 years prior in the bigs (plus the time he had in the minors with those mechanics). I'm not buying the argument that once changed, he's been ruined forever. The old, successful mechanics should have been relatively easy to recapture.

 

Hill had a reputation before his big league time of having some concentration problems. I'm much more inclined to think he's lost his confidence and now his desire before believing a change made by LR ruined him for good.

 

Overthinking can kill a guy like this. IMO, he just needs to take a step back, relax and have some fun playing the game. Just go out there and challenge the hitters and whatever happens, happens.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I don't think anyone who was upset with Rothschild was saying that the changes made were "maintaining the problem". The point was that when you have a guy like Hill, who in the past was the left handed Rick Vaughn, who needed to see a sports psychologist along with mechanical changes to be effective at the MLB level, you should probably not try to do more tinkering than necessary. Changing his mechanics so he's quicker to the plate after he was one of the best starters in the NL qualifies as excessive tinkering to me.

[Soul]

I don't think anyone who was upset with Rothschild was saying that the changes made were "maintaining the problem". The point was that when you have a guy like Hill, who in the past was the left handed Rick Vaughn, who needed to see a sports psychologist along with mechanical changes to be effective at the MLB level, you should probably not try to do more tinkering than necessary. Changing his mechanics so he's quicker to the plate after he was one of the best starters in the NL qualifies as excessive tinkering to me.

 

Geez, how come I didn't know Hill was such a head case?

[TheDude]

I don't think anyone who was upset with Rothschild was saying that the changes made were "maintaining the problem". The point was that when you have a guy like Hill, who in the past was the left handed Rick Vaughn, who needed to see a sports psychologist along with mechanical changes to be effective at the MLB level, you should probably not try to do more tinkering than necessary. Changing his mechanics so he's quicker to the plate after he was one of the best starters in the NL qualifies as excessive tinkering to me.

 

I don't know. All pitchers in ST go through some tinkering and I don't think any them ever expect to be immune to it. You can always improve. I've worked with some guys like Hill in other 'sports' that consider mechanics (bowling, golf) and I've not encountered anyone that couldn't quickly return to their comfort mechanics (many even subconsciously). Returning to what worked is big confidence boost for guys with issues, so I just don't see how Hill couldn't have ended ST back in his zone.

 

Interestingly, the same debate applies with Soriano and his lead-off spot. I find it odd some folks on the board sit on opposite sides of the fence for Soriano and Hill on the confidence/comfort issue

[Jehrico]

If Hill has concentration problems, then maybe he needs ADD meds like Eyre. They turned Eyre's career around.

[Jon]

They were apparently using the see what sticks approach with adjusting Hill's mechanics recently. It probably won't be a bad thing to have him work with someone else for a little bit.

 

Maybe the Orioles wouldn't mind if Alan Dunn was hired for some consulting work on the side...

[Soul]

If Hill has concentration problems, then maybe he needs ADD meds like Eyre. They turned Eyre's career around.

 

Seriously. If this much is at stake, then by all means get on the right meds and get turned around. I mean, if that's really the problem.

[CuseCubFan69]

Funny, both guys are left handed....I've always wondered how much that has to do with it.

[Clem Fandango]

If Hill has concentration problems, then maybe he needs ADD meds like Eyre. They turned Eyre's career around.

 

Didn't he stop taking them because MLB deemed Adderall a PED? I seem to recall he was kicking tail a year or two ago and then fell off the deep end and I read something about how he had to stop taking his ADD medication because it had a banned substance in it or something.

 

Adderall is a fantastic drug if you have ADD or troubles focusing and paying attention.