20 seasons.
13 teams.
386 games.
248 starts.
And Rich Hill isn’t finished yet.
All of those numbers are going to increase by one Tuesday night when the 45-year-old pitcher takes the mound for the Kansas City Royals when they play the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro confirmed Monday that Hill would be called up from triple-A Omaha, where he has gone 4-4 with a 5.36 ERA over nine starts and has struck out 10, nine and eight batters in individual games this season.
“He’s done well,” Quatraro told reporters of Hill, who pitched for the Boston Red Sox last year before signing a minor league deal with the Royals during the offseason. “He’s had a couple of ups and downs, performance-wise. But when he’s been locating, he’s been really good.”
At 45 years and 133 days, Hill will be the oldest pitcher to start an MLB game since the Colorado Rockies’ Jamie Moyer (49 years, 191 days) on May 27, 2012.
Hill also will tie Edwin Jackson’s record of having played for 14 MLB teams and will do so against the team for which he made his major league debut — and in the very same park — on June 16, 2005.
Between his time with the Cubs and his ensuing start with the Royals, Hill also played for the Baltimore Orioles, Red Sox (in four separate stints), Cleveland Indians, Angels, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres.
While his stint in Anaheim was a mere blip at just two games during the 2014 season, Hill made much more of an impact during his four seasons with the Dodgers, from 2016 to 2019.
During that span, Hill went 30-16 with 427 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.16 in the regular season. He appeared in 12 postseason games (including three during two World Series runs), going 1-2 with 62 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.70.
“I feel great,” Hill said, going into his final season with the Dodgers and his 15th overall. “I don’t really know where there is a point of enough is enough. I feel like I can keep going for a while.”
More than six years later, Hill is still keeping it going.
