What you see is what you get with Yankees reliever Tim Hill — as long as you can see it. It’s a fastball. It’s 88-91 MPH. It’s coming at you from a funky angle. You’re probably drilling it into the ground.
Usually, it works for the unflappable Hill. He’s markedly good at inducing exactly what he was trying to. That’s why even an ERA as high as 3.80 — which Hill attained on May 21 with an earned run allowed against Texas — raises minor alarm bells. If Hill can’t be counted upon to vaporize lefty-dominant lineup stretches, then maybe Brent Headrick gets some high-leverage tries? Maybe the Yankees’ summer shopping list changes a little?
Unless, of course, Hill wants to uncork something entirely new under duress. That works, too.
Since that outing against the Rangers, Hill hasn’t allowed an earned run in six appearances (though he did walk in a run with the bases loaded to put a cap on Max Fried’s Friday night mess in LA last week). On Thursday against the Guardians, he pulled off his best feat yet, escaping a bases-loaded, one-out jam with a strikeout of Bo Naylor, which left him exposed to lefty masher Jhonkensy Noel.
No matter! He continued his remarkable hitless streak with the bases loaded (don’t say World Series, don’t say World Series…) and induced a harmless Noel pop out. No damage done, thanks in part to Hill changing the Guardians’ expectations and peppering in five sliders. Out of 12 swings, not a single pitch was hit hard into fair territory.
Yankees reliever Tim Hill uncorked a new pitch to escape a jam vs. the Cleveland Guardians
It took Hill an awfully long time to return to the Yankees this offseason, only linking up with New York just ahead of spring training following dalliances with the Mets. It took him far less time to decide to mix up his arsenal and see if he could turn his recent predictability back into a strength.
Hill remains a totally unique beast. He doesn’t induce swings-and-misses. He’s bottom of the barrel at all the things we typically prize relievers for doing these days. And yet … it tends to work. If the old dog is changing his stripes just a little bit to adapt to the current season, then he might be all the more dangerous moving forward. He certainly picked up a few well-timed whiffs against Naylor and Noel on Thursday night.
And, please, we beg of you, do not use that bases-loaded stat to publicly rehash the debate we all wish we weren’t having internally right now. Not the time.
