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.Jeff Sullivan at FanGraphs adds more:
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.
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:
* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *
* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *
* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *
No comments:
Post a Comment