A Boston Red Sox fan favorite is trying to make an MLB comeback.
If he does it, the 45-year old pitcher would be a member of the Kansas City Royals after signing a minor league deal last week.
Rich Hill is the hurler in question. He was first drafted in 1999 and is still around.
Hill did pitch in the majors last season, four games out of the Boston bullpen.
Before that, he had been coaching his son in Little League, pseudo-retired but clearly still looking to return.
Hill was expected to report to Triple-A Omaha, according to MLB.com, but has yet to appear in a game. MILB.com lists him as currently with the Royals complex team in Arizona.
“He had been throwing, said he felt good,” Royals assistant GM Scott Sharp told MLB.com. “We had contacted him actually last year. He wanted a little bit more of a clearer path to the Major Leagues, so we reached out to him this year and said, ‘Hey, look, we have an opportunity to start in Triple-A. We don’t know if there’s a path to the Major Leagues at all.’ But he wants to continue to pitch, so we felt like it was a good spot.”
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Hill has appeared in at least one MLB game in each of the past 20 seasons.
“I love Rich,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “I was with him for a year in Tampa. It’s remarkable that he’s still pitching, that he still has the drive to want to do it and go to Triple-A and continue to compete.”
Hill’s major league debut came in 2005.
The southpaw with the loopy curveball has a 4.01 career ERA and has struck out 1,428 batters in 1,409 innings.
Hill has pitched for 13 teams. The Royals would be No. 14, joining Edwin Jackson as the only guys to have played for 14 MLB teams.
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