Veteran Rich Hill, 43, is excited to join his 13th team, the San Diego Padres.
안전놀이터“It’s nice to see some familiar faces,” Hill said in an interview ahead of the Padres’ home game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday (June 6) at Petco Park in San Diego, Calif. This is a team with a ton of talent. I’m hoping we can do something special here,” he said of his move to San Diego.
Hill, who is in his 19th season in the Major Leagues, was recently traded to San Diego from the Pittsburgh Pirates. This trade marks his 13th team.
Rich Hill was acquired by San Diego via trade. Photo via AFPBBNews = News1
He said, “I heard my name was popular on Immaculate Grid (a baseball trivia game). I haven’t played the game, but I’ve heard my name comes up a lot,” he said, noting that he knows he was one of the players who bounced between teams.
“It’s been fun,” he said of his past teams, adding, “I have high expectations for this team and we’ll see what we can do. On offense, I’ve heard they can score runs at any time. My job is to pitch meaningful innings and get the outs in the end.”
Having traveled to Petco Park in the past as an away player, he said, “Every time I’ve been, I’ve seen the passion of the San Diego fans. It’s a city that’s hungry to win a World Series,” he said, adding that he hopes to be a part of San Diego’s championship run.
Hill, who has been traded numerous times since being acquired from the Chicago Cubs to the Baltimore Orioles in February 2009, said it’s “part of the business,” but added, “We’re players and families at the same time. As players get older, their families grow,” he said, noting that trades cut into his time with his family, but that the “anticipation and excitement of being able to play in October” was a plus.
“I’m bouncing around, influencing other players and being influenced by other players at the same time,” he said, explaining that he’s been bouncing around and influencing a lot of different players.
His new team, San Diego, is currently in a tough spot in the standings. When asked what the team needs to do to make the postseason, he explained that they need to “understand the task at hand and think less about the outcome of every moment, every pitch, every outcome.”
“The biggest thing that brings a team closer together is winning, but there’s something that doesn’t show up in scouting reports or data analytics that makes a player better. It’s a huge factor,” he said, emphasizing the importance of factors that don’t show up in the records of teams that last long in the postseason.
“He’s going to have to adjust to a new team and his family is going to have to adjust to a new city. He’s going to have to adjust to a new team, his family is going to have to adjust to a new city, and the place where he’s going to feel most comfortable in that process is probably on the mound,” Melvin said of Hill.