9:51pm: Hill suffered a strained left MCL, Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times tweets. It’s not yet clear how much time he’ll miss, though it obviously doesn’t sound promising.
7:05PM: Hill’s outing only lasted six batters and two-thirds of an inning, as Jon Morosi reports (Twitter link) that Hill had a problem with his left knee. A strain to that same knee put Hill on the IL for the first month of the season.
2:10PM: The Dodgers have officially activated veteran left-hander Rich Hill from the 60-day injured list, as Hill will start tonight’s game against the Orioles. To create roster space, right-hander Jaime Schultz has been designated for assignment.
Hill last took the mound on June 19, as a flexor tendon strain sidelined him for close to half the season. As per the team’s plan to get Hill ready for the postseason, he’ll only throw two innings or 30 pitches tonight (essentially working as an opener) and then gradually build up his workload over four outings before the end of the season. If all goes well, Hill will be in line to take the fourth starter role for Los Angeles in the playoffs, behind Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Walker Buehler.
Hill has been no stranger to injuries over his career, and as per usual during the southpaw’s late-career renaissance, he has been very effective then he has been able to pitch. Hill had a 2.55 ERA, 5.08 K/BB rate, and 10.4 K/9 over 53 innings in 2019, also missing the first month of the season due to a knee sprain. Though his numbers included a career-high 1.7 HR/9 (perhaps not usual for any pitcher in this homer-happy season), Hill’s .265 xwOBA put him in the 91st percentile of all pitchers.
After tossing 30 1/3 innings for Tampa Bay in his rookie season, Schultz pitched only five innings over four MLB games for the Dodgers in 2019, spending the bulk of the year at Triple-A Oklahoma City. He had a 5.85 ERA over 47 2/3 Triple-A innings, though unlike many pitchers in the Pacific Coast League, homers weren’t the problem — Schultz had only an 0.6 HR/9, as the larger issue was a 5.1 BB/9, continuing the control issues that have bothered the 28-year-old for much of his pro career. Also as per the norm for the hard-throwing Schultz, he posted some strong strikeout numbers, whiffing Triple-A batters at a rate of 11.7 K/9.
Doesn’t really mean much but why DFA someone when you can out Ruiz on the 60 day DL?
He wasn’t a factor either this year or next. He’ll be out of options, along with the many out of options RPs in 20. At some point he was going to be a roster casualty. Might as well clear those easy decisions right now.
Probably right, Blue Painted. He will be missed though. Class guy.
At least the O’s shouldn’t be much of a barrier for Hill to climb on his way to October
LA will not defeat a good team like the Yanks or Astros. Inflated record due to poor division. Their pitching, specifically, their pen will kill them.
Really and Yankees played the O’s 19 times and won 17! Talk about a weak division!
Yanks have Tampa, RS, and not to mention very good teams like the Twins and Astros in the AL. Who does LA have to tangle with in the NL that is equivalent?
They also play Toronto, Baltimore, Chicago, KC, Detroit, and Seattle. They might have the two best teams in the league but the rest of the league is vastly overrated.
Red Sox only average this year. Same record as DBacks. Bkue Hays and Baltimore are in rebuild mode, so yeah, bot a very strong division.
I tend to agree, the NL is pretty weak and the Dodgers peaked a few months ago. Their starting pitching is now suspect, Bellinger has reverted to 2018 and Jansen is never going to be what he was .
Only a fool speaks of who will win a postseason series as a fact. Anything can happen and the Dodgers are loaded
In disagree, there are two teams that are clearly superior to the rest, Houston and New York. If I was betting, I’d put money on the AL winner just like the last 2 seasons.
Look at their record vs teams above .500. Why does it not suprise me that the fans who think Friedman is awful are so out of touch
OK, I just looked:
Dodgers: .583
Astros: .575
Yankees: .592
What was your point?
The Dodgers are grinders and have been to the dance…win or lose is the WS, I see them getting through the rest of the NL in the playoffs
Looking at BRef’s Strength of Schedule (SOS) The Dodgers (0.1) have faced stronger competition overall than both the Astros (-0.2) and Yankees (-0.3). Also they have had worse luck than both of those teams according to BRef #’s.
good grief he’s going to lose a limb before his contract expires
This guy needs to retire. “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised!” – Zapp Brannigan
Hill is a walking bandaid. Too bad.
Crap was really excited about him hopefully being all set for the playoffs, he is such a warrior when it matters. Really happy with how his 3 year contract turned out, 320 innnings of 3.3 era ball. 107 innings of that production per yr average. I’ll take that over 160 innings of 4+ era ball any day. We have the depth after all. And dude is old too so how can you even hate. At that age it’s nothing short of amazing. Hope he keeps on pitching