The Los Angeles Dodgers made three turns in their starting rotation this spring prior to making a minor adjustment. Rather than slot Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill back-to-back, the left-handers are now broken up by Kenta Maeda.
That pushed Hill’s fourth start of the spring to Tuesday, when he faced the Cincinnati Reds at Camelback Ranch. Hill only allowed one run on one hit and had three strikeouts in 3.2 innings, but he also issued three walks.
Despite that, the outing was Hill’s best since throwing two scoreless innings in his 2017 debut. While the southpaw bounced back from consecutive subpar starts, Hill is looking to improve his fastball, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“I feel great physically. Mechanically, just getting more conviction on the fastball is really the biggest step moving forward. There were some good breaking balls, a few good fastballs. Overall, still a work in progress, that’s for sure.”
Struggling during spring starts is nothing new for the 37-year-old. Including this year, Hill owns a career 5.68 Spring Training ERA. Last year with the Oakland Athletics, he pitched to a career-worst 11.25 ERA in four starts.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who has gone on record with his belief Spring Training results yield little significance, has maintained an optimistic outlook for the veteran lefty.
Hill went 3-2 with a 1.83 ERA and 1.00 WHIP in six starts after joining the Dodgers last August. He re-signed with the club during the offseason on a three-year, $48 million contract. The substantial deal was the first of its kind for Hill in his career.
