On May 21, Defector's Ray Ratto informed you that it was time to start the "Rich Hill is BACK" countdown. A little over three months later, on July 23, I am happy to inform you that the Rich Hill is BACK countdown has officially ended, because Rich Hill is BACK, and this time with the Kansas City Royals!
Since signing his minor-league deal, the 45-year-old Hill has put up a 5.22 ERA over 11 starts in the minors. Two of those starts came at the Rookie ball level—where, according to Baseball-Reference, he is 23.9 years older than the weighted average age of players in Rookie ball—while the remaining nine came in Triple-A, where he is a mere 17.5 years older than the average. While the ERA is less than ideal, Hill averaged a little less than six strikeouts per start.
But numbers are not a necessary justification for Rich Hill's return, which is, at this point, practically scripted into the MLB season. And why not? When you are the 2025 Kansas City Royals, you are permitted to make decisions like these, and Hill's nickname of "Dick Mountain" (rendered as D. Mountain in his nickname section on Baseball-Reference) predates the now omnipresent glory of "Big Dumper." If Dick Mountain is available, you call him up. By starting Hill, the Royals play a small part in history; with Tuesday night's start against the Chicago Cubs, Hill tied Edwin Jackson's record for most MLB employers, with 14.
There are numbers available from Hill's start (90 pitches over five innings; three runs allowed, though only one earned; a 91.1-mph four-seamer), though they aren't relevant to the key point of Rich Hill being back. Hill has transcended the limited sports ideals of winning and doing well, and has become one of those rare anomalies that only exist when athletes clearly love what they do and want to do it for as long as possible. Tuesday night, he faced a player born the year before he debuted (Matt Shaw) and a player born the year he debuted (Pete Crow-Armstrong). His start came against the team he first debuted with. He and fellow 45-year-old Venus Williams are out there doing it for the romantics (and perhaps for the health insurance).
As Rich Hill adds more teams to his resume, adding a new one becomes necessarily more restrictive, but he still has his pick of just over half the big league teams. I look forward to doing this with you again next year, God willing. May Rich Hill always be back, or in some process of returning.
