This story was excerpted from Justice delos Santos’ Pirates Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
The Pirates added several veterans to supplement their young core this offseason. Carlos Santana. Ji-Man Choi. Austin Hedges. Jarlín García. Even the 30-year-old Vince Velasquez has several seasons under his belt. But no one in that group has as much experience — both in baseball and in life — as Rich Hill.
Hill, who signed a one-year deal this past Thursday, checks several boxes for the Pirates. He’s pitched well into his 40s. He fills out the rotation. He provides a left-handed presence. Above all else, he stands to mentor Pittsburgh’s young starters.
Here are five numbers that define Hill.
43: Hill will turn 43 years old in March. In 2022, Hill was the second-oldest player on an Opening Day roster behind Albert Pujols. As things stand, Hill would be the oldest player on an Opening Day roster in ’23.
12: The Pirates will be the 12th team that Hill plays for, joining the Cubs, Orioles, Red Sox, Guardians, Angels, Yankees, A’s, Dodgers, Twins, Rays and Mets. That ties Hill with Ron Villone, Mike Morgan and Matt Stairs for the third-most franchises played for in a career. Edwin Jackson holds the record, having played for 14 teams.
13.127: Hill will be pitching in his 19th Major League season and currently possesses 13.127 years of service time. The rest of the Pirates’ projected rotation — Velasquez, Roansy Contreras, Mitch Keller and JT Brubaker — has 13.224 total years of service time (Velasquez accounts for 7.086 of those years).
3.92: Hill has remained an effective pitcher since turning 40. Since 2020, Hill has posted a 3.92 ERA and a 106 ERA+ across 321 2/3 innings. Over the last three seasons, Hill has been worth 3.1 bWAR and 4.1 fWAR.
35.9: Hill has used six pitches in his Major League career — seven if you include the occasional eephus — but his bread-and-butter offerings are the four-seam fastball and curveball. The southpaw has relied predominantly on those two pitches since 2015, and Hill used both his four-seam and curveball 35.9 percent of the time apiece last season.