Rich Hill’s career has depended on one pitch: The curveball.
That is the pitch that got him to the majors. That is the pitch that has allowed him to strike out nearly a batter an inning. And that is the offering that, he now hopes, will position him to crack the Red Sox roster as a left-handed reliever.
The 30-year-old joined the Sox on a minor league deal last summer and ended up pitching in six games (going 1-0 without giving up an earned run in four innings) last September. Rather than tendering him a contract that would have made him eligible for salary arbitration, the Sox made him a free agent at the end of the year, and then re-signed him to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training that could pay Hill $580,000 if he makes the team.
If Hill becomes a member of the Sox bullpen, it will be a direct result of the excellence of his curve, widely viewed as one of the best in the majors. That notion was evident in his work out of the bullpen last year, as more than half of the pitches Hill threw were curveballs.
“I don’t feel like it puts stress on my arm in any shape or form,” said Hill. “I could throw 100 pitches like that and it wouldn’t be a problem.”
Given his reliance on snapping curveballs, and his ability to do so, it is interesting to note that he did not throw the pitch until he was 17, when his older brother, Lloyd, taught it to him. He is a believer that the pitch should not be thrown by young pitchers whose muscles are still developing.
“You watch the Little League World Series and stuff like that now, even Little League games, and you see kids throwing breaking balls. I’m not a big advocate of that,” Hill said during the season. “I think it’s more important to learn command of your fastball and maybe learn how to throw a changeup.
“I just think it’s development. You’re still growing,” he added. “When you get a little more mature, your muscles develop more. Your ligaments, you give them time to grow. I’m not a doctor, so I can’t speak on the medical side of things, but as a player, I feel that it would be better to wait.”
By his own account, Hill threw only fastballs while growing up, before developing his secondary pitch in high school. As a senior at Milton High School, he saw the first glimpses of a real breaking ball. He was drafted at that point by the Reds, but turned down the opportunity to turn pro in order to pitch at the University of Michigan. There, he saw continued progress of what had become his signature pitch, achieving “a bigger break and a bigger break. Really, my junior year in college, that came around.”
That, of course, coincided with the year when he was being scouted for the amateur draft.
“Good timing,” mused Hill, who was a fourth-round draft choice by the Cubs in 2002. “As I got into professional baseball, better coaching, I developed it even more and learned to make it break in different directions. You have the 12-to-6, some are 11-to-5, then you can drop down and make a big, sweeping slider-type breaking ball.
“It’s all the same concept. All breaking balls are the same concept when they’re curveballs or, not sliders, but a slurve, that Frisbee that you throw from the side. It’s the same idea. But really as I got into pro ball, the break became greater downward instead of just rolling to the plate.”
The pitch was Hill’s initial ticket to the majors, and then it seemingly had him on the cusp of stardom as a member of the Cubs. He also featured a high-80s to low-90s fastball as well as a changeup, a combination that established him as an effective member of the Chicago rotation. In 2007, at the age of 27, he went 11-8 with a 3.92 ERA while striking out 183 batters (fifth in the National League) in 195 innings while making 32 starts.

But his command fell apart after that. In 2008 and 2009, he pitched just 77 innings in the majors, walking nearly as many batters (58) as he struck out (61). He was sent to the minors, spent time dealing with back injuries, moved from the Cubs to the Orioles, had surgery on his left shoulder (labrum), signed a minor league deal with the Cardinals in 2010 and then, after exercising an opt-out clause in his contract in the middle of last summer, joined the Sox.
The stringy 6-foot-5 lefty had a 3.74 ERA and struck out 55 batters in 53 innings for the PawSox, meriting his September summons to the majors. That afforded the South Boston resident a unique opportunity to pitch for his hometown team. On some days, he would simply jump on his bike and make the short ride to Fenway Park, where he had been introduced to baseball while catching games in $3 bleacher seats.
Late in the season, he contemplated the question of whether he preferred to be a starter or a reliever going forward, and determined that the stage was more important than the role.
“It’s whichever which way will get you here to the big leagues and staying in the big leagues,” said Hill. “If it’s in the starting rotation, that’s great. If it’s out of the bullpen and getting left-handed hitters out, helping a team in that fashion, then that’s where you want to be.”
It is in the latter role that Hill will compete for a big league roster spot this spring. He held lefties to a 1-for-8 mark with a pair of strikeouts last year. In his big league career, he has limited left-handed hitters to a line of .216/.327/.355/.682.
The Sox believe that either Hill or Andrew Miller – both tall lefties who have dealt with control issues as starters – could emerge as a solid left-handed specialist out of the bullpen. That being the case, even while remaining open to adding another left-handed reliever this offseason, the team is comfortable heading into spring training with its current cast of relievers.
There is an opportunity for Hill. What he does with it will likely be determined by a pitch that he did not throw until he was almost in college.
“I think [the curveball] is something you can develop within a short period of time, with the grip and the technique,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a very difficult pitch to learn.”