‘This is a special place’: Hill grateful for chance to return to Boston
Ian Browne
BOSTON — Rich Hill is coming home. Wait a minute. He already was home. But now he’s going back to work.
In case you missed it, the 44-year-old lefty ended his sabbatical from pitching over the weekend when he signed a Minor League deal with the Red Sox.
When the pride of Milton, Mass., turned down three Major League offers last winter so he could coach his son Brice’s final Little League season — in Milton, by the way — he always planned on returning to the mound.
But he had no idea where that road would lead him.
As fate would have it, the Red Sox, who have struggled in the bullpen since the All-Star break and recently lost lefty starter James Paxton to what is likely a season-ending right calf injury, are the team that needed Hill for the stretch run.
For now, Hill’s home base is Triple-A Worcester, a mere 45-mile drive west on the Massachusetts Turnpike.
However, that should just be a temporary stop. Hill doesn’t think it should be too long before he takes a shorter drive to work at a place called Fenway Park in what would kick off his fourth stint with his hometown team.
As any Immaculate Grid regular knows, Hill has a lot of home Major League cities to compare with Boston. And there’s nowhere he’d rather be.
“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 got down to business on Sunday, reporting to the WooSox and throwing a bullpen session. He will accompany Worcester on the road in Norfolk, Va., and throw live batting practice on Tuesday. By the end of the week, Hill expects to pitch his first Minor League game.
While it’s ultimately up to the Red Sox when or if to call him up, Hill thinks he wouldn’t need more than two Minor League tune-ups to be ready.
Though Hill’s return might seem sudden, the build-up was methodical. He started throwing off the mound nearly four months ago in anticipation of his return.
Hill worked out almost daily with Jason Turner, his strength and conditioning coach who doubled as his catcher. And he’s been under the frequent watch of former Red Sox physical therapist Mike Reinold at Champion Physical Therapy Performance in Waltham, Mass.
“We’ve been working at least five to six days a week and going to Champion with Mike Reinold working on strength and stability with a shoulder program,” said Hill.
For Hill, this won’t be a case of needing to pitch himself back into shape. It is more about getting back into the rhythms of baseball at the highest level.
“I threw a 90-pitch bullpen or whatever it was [at a recent showcase]. I had thrown a 100-pitch bullpen at Northeastern, and then threw an 85-pitch bullpen in Falmouth,” Hill said. “The workload as far as conditioning and being able to handle a good amount of pitches is there.”
The Red Sox are keeping all options open in terms of how Hill could be used.
“Role-wise, if it happens, he can start, he can open, he can come in in leverage. But first things first, let’s get him back on the mound, back to compete and then we’ll go from there,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora.
Hill is happy to be the Swiss Army Knife at this stage of his career, particularly for a Boston club that is in the postseason race.
“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.”
In recent throwing sessions, Hill has gotten up to 89 mph. Almost as if he’s from a bygone era, velocity is never what has made him tick.
“For me, it’s about the ability to be creative with the baseball and understand that pitching isn’t about overpowering the hitter,” said Hill. “It’s about messing up the hitter’s timing. Really that’s all you need is to be able to have that deception and be a pitcher who can understand how to locate and execute with location.”
