Kornacki: Hill's Learning Curve Changed His Career Path
10/6/2017 10:45:00 AM | Baseball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
DETROIT -- Rich Hill has carved a niche for himself with his curveball. It's the pitch that has taken him from mediocrity to superiority over the past three seasons.
Hill posted a 24-22 record and 4.72 earned run average during his up-and-down career with six MLB different teams from 2005 through 2014.
However, since the Boston Red Sox signed him off an independent league team on Aug. 14, 2015, Hill has pitched like a master.
He is 26-14 with a 2.65 ERA since then.
It's been quite a learning curve.
As a result, only 16 months after pitching for the Atlantic League Long Island Ducks for $2,000 a month, Hill signed a three-year contract worth $48 million in December. He has gone about proving his worth to the Los Angeles Dodgers ever since.
The University of Michigan product pitched a no-hitter through nine innings on Aug. 23, and he will take a 12-8 record and 3.32 ERA into his playoff start Saturday night (Oct. 7) against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
He succeeded by getting to the forefront of a pitching trend that Sports Illustrated featured in a cover story this May titled: "Why the Curveball is Taking Over the Game." It noted that fastball usage has dropped 10 percent since 2002 and that 9,000 more curves were thrown in the majors in 2016 than in 2015.
Tom Verducci wrote of those joining the movement: "They have followed the recent lead of pitchers such as Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill of the Dodgers and (Lance) McCullers (of the Houston Astros), who have found success by throwing more breaking balls and fewer fastballs."
When I spoke with Hill in the Dodgers clubhouse the day after he beat the Detroit Tigers in the start that preceded his flirtation with perfection against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he told me the emphasis on throwing curveballs had enabled him to not only revive his career but to thrive.
While he was with the Red Sox, assistant pitching coach and vice president of pitching development Brian Bannister convinced Hill to rely on his breaking ball by offering a study of analytics that said it would lead to "more success" for him.
"The idea of throwing more curveballs came about in 2015 when I was talking to Brian Bannister," said Hill. "He was giving me some statistics about the breaking ball and about my breaking ball in particular. He talked about swing-and-miss rate and all the new, quantified statistics that are out there on spin, spin rate and all that.
"He taught me how to use all that in my own game, and he was able to sell me that if I threw that pitch at a higher percentage, more than likely I was going to have more success. He also mentioned a word that was interesting, which was 'shape.' I'd never really heard a breaking ball explained that way.
"So, I started seeing a lot of different options and opportunities."
He explained "shaping" his breaking ball to be "oblong, short, slow or quick" depending on what he wanted against a particular hitter in a particular situation while also taking into account what was working best for him on a given day.
Hill said the skill involved in being able to be that precise takes much time, practice and patience.
"Are you willing to do that?" he asked. "For me, it's taken 12-plus years in professional baseball, in addition to my amateur career, to understand how to get to this point here."
Hill said he didn't throw a curve until "I was 16 or 17," which is later than most pitchers. He could put away hitters at Milton (Massachusetts) High with his fastball and didn't venture into throwing the curve, which can lead to arm problems for young pitchers, until he was approaching college.
"I've always been able to spin a breaking ball," Hill said. "I had a pretty good amount of strikeouts at Michigan and was able to use that pitch a lot to my advantage."
Hill struck out 229 in 177 1/3 innings for the Wolverines (2000-02), and that's what got him drafted in the fourth round by the Chicago Cubs after his junior season despite a 7-16 record and 4.92 ERA in college.
He's maintained that high strikeout rate in the majors, fanning 9.4 per nine innings with 782 strikeouts in 746 innings.
With a four-seam fastball that, according to PitchFX, averaged only 89 mph this season, Hill still slices and dices hitters. His wicked curve complements his fastball so well that his fastballs produced the lowest batting average (.190) and highest swing-and-miss rate (30.5 percent) for any pitcher in the majors this season.
Hill walks off the mound after completing nine no-hit innings against the Pirates
Hill also has a sidearm version of the curve that keeps opponents even more off balance.
That sidearm curve, which hitters find particularly difficult to pick up because of its release point, was born out of necessity seven years ago.
"In 2010, I went to the bullpen because I had to make a decision," said Hill. "I had shoulder surgery in 2009 and it didn't feel great. So, the only thing I could do was drop down because it felt natural. After the shoulder surgery, it didn't feel that great to throw coming over the top. Throwing sidearm was so much looser and freer.
"So, it was part survival mode, part heath-wise, and I dropped down my motion and pitched out of the bullpen in 2010 and pitched well in 2011. That year, I ended up having UCL (ulnar collateral ligament) surgery, but the shape of that breaking ball was there."
Still, much more has gone into his success than the curve. It's impossible to hang your hat on one pitch in pro ball.
"There's a base level in pitching where you have to have some command of your fastball," said Hill, 37. "But one thing I've learned more and more about as I get older is the conviction, aggressive part of pitching."
Hill dominated the Pirates in his masterpiece with mental toughness and pretty much a two-pitch repertoire of a well-commanded fastball and knee-buckling curveball. He required only 99 pitches in the game and carried a perfect game into the ninth inning.
Jordy Mercer hit a grounder leading off the ninth that third baseman Logan Forsythe, subbing for All-Star Justin Turner that day, couldn't field cleanly for an error. The perfect game was over, but Hill got the next three batters to carry a no-hitter into the 10th.
Josh Harrison, leading off the next inning, pulled a homer that left fielder Curtis Granderson nearly snagged. But it was just out of reach for Granderson, who crashed violently into the low wall at PNC Park in dogged pursuit, and Hill became the first pitcher in the history of Major League Baseball ever to lose a no-hitter on a walk-off homer.
It was heartbreaking 1-0 loss.
"I try to keep everything as simple as possible and don't think of it as bigger than it is," Hill calmly explained to reporters afterward. "We lost a ballgame. We have something bigger than any individual going on here. We're in it for the delayed gratification, not the instant gratification.
"Right now, I'm just looking forward to tomorrow. I know it sounds a little boring, but that's it. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, getting in the gym and getting ready for the next outing. We have a lot of great things going on here."
The Dodgers, once on pace to surpass the major league record of 116 wins, finished 104-58 for the most wins by the franchise since moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958. Hill said when we spoke in mid-August that there hasn't been time to reflect on what his team has accomplished.
Hill said: "The time to soak it in ... that will come at some point. But that's what's great about this locker room. I don't think anyone could tell you how many games ahead we are in the standings. It's just about that consistent effort every day and not compromising.
"That starts at the top with (manager) Dave (Roberts) giving us that freedom. That's a big thing for everybody, I believe."
Those comments were indicative of the approach Hill took after losing the perfect game and then the no-hitter. It's the approach he will adhere to no matter what the outcome of his playoff start. He might rely on the curve to attain success, but he goes straight down the middle with the mental approach that has also helped make him both a survivor and thriver.
• It's About Time: How Hill Became a Top Pitcher for MLB's Top Team (8/21/2017)
