Michael McKenry has followed Rich Hill’s long and winding career with plenty of curiosity and respect.
The most notable moment or intersection came early in the 2011 season when they were both at Triple-A Pawtucket, in the Red Sox system, and McKenry caught Hill a couple times before the left-hander was promoted to Boston and the backstop arrived in Pittsburgh via trade.
McKenry’s admiration has for Hill has only grown during his post-playing life as a color analyst on 93.7 FM The Fan and AT&T SportsNet, which is why it was no surprise to hear McKenry gush over the 42-year-old and what the Pirates will be getting during a recent phone conversation.
“He’s a beauty,” McKenry said. “I really do love the move for them.”
There are a bunch of reasons why McKenry is a big fan of the deal, but most curiously was a link he drew to a fan favorite from the Pirates’ 2013-15 playoff seasons: A.J. Burnett.
In doing so, McKenry did acknowledge their different personalities. Hill isn’t the tattooed, bad-boy type who had no issue telling an opponent to sit the [heck] down. But they do have similar approaches.
Burnett transformed into Batman (OK, more so than usual) when he pitched. For whatever reason — the pursuit of longevity, always needing to win or simply leaving no stone unturned — Hill also morphs into a crazy competitor on start days, a stark change considering his fairly relaxed personality for four days preceding it.
“[Hill] was like a father figure when I played with him,” McKenry said. “He had his coffee and newspaper in the morning, grabbed his lunch pail, put on his hard hat and went to work. Then he was a different animal when he went into the game.
“The only person Pittsburgh has had I can compare it to is A.J. Burnett. Completely different personality and person. But that type of change on game day.”
Another key for any Hill-Burnett comparison also includes stuff. Burnett obviously had it in spades — and it could be electric. Hill does things differently, but that’s not a crime.
When McKenry caught Hill, he was in the stage of his career where he spent about four years as a sidearm reliever. It didn’t stick, as Hill wound up in the Atlantic League and re-established himself as a starter with Boston late in 2015.
But it did show how Hill has been able to extend his career. During their brief time together, McKenry learned first-hand what made Hill so hard to hit. In addition to easily manipulating his arm angle, Hill could add and subtract to his breaking ball while still maintaining control.
Stealing a strike at the top of the zone was one way it was used. Back-door breakers too. Targeting a hitter’s back-foot, didn’t matter. Out of multiple arm slots, each arriving at a different speed. The ball was always tough to pick up and track.
“I know this sounds weird, but he has so much ‘boogie whip’ in his arm,” McKenry said. “Even though he throws 88-89 [mph], it doesn’t play that way. It didn’t play that way when he was throwing sidearm at 90-91. The ball is heavy from the spin. It hits your mitt differently. It comes in almost like an arrow.
“There are just so many things he can do with the ball. His ability to change the angle on it has always been remarkable to me.”
We know plenty about Hill’s story by now. Will have pitched for 12 MLB teams when he makes his first Pirates start. This will be his 19th MLB season. He’s the oldest player in the big leagues now that Albert Pujols has retired.
Last season, while pitching in the rugged AL East, Hill had a 4.27 ERA, 3.92 FIP and 109 strikeouts in 26 starts. He finished strong, too, with a 2.36 ERA and 30 strikeouts over his final five starts.
But as many stats and trends as anyone can parse through when it comes to Hill, McKenry likes to describe his former teammate by talking about what Hill was like back when pitchers hit.
Although Hill obviously wasn’t much of a power-hitting or base-stealing threat, that’s not how he acted. He’d take pride in fouling off a bunch of pitches to make the other guy work. Bunting someone over was an assumed responsibility. Sliding or going hard into a base was no issue.
“He’s a guy you want in the trenches because he takes every single pitch and puts it completely in his heart and lays it out there for everybody to see,” McKenry said. “If he pitches bad, he may go punch a [water] cooler, but trust me, it’s genuine. It’s not, ‘Oh, look at me.’ That’s who he is. He’s a competitor.”
McKenry finished by comparing Hill to other older pitchers who have extended their careers by revamping their repertoires in Zack Greinke and Adam Wainwright, the former tinkering with his changeup and spin stuff, the latter leaning more on a sinker to complement his terrific, looping curve. Both have kept walks down by actually knowing how to pitch.
Hill’s support-mechanism — don’t say cane — has been his curveball and the continued manipulation of it. Plus, of course, a refusal to give up and dogged preparation, things that have combined to keep Hill relevant and productive well into his 40s.
“He works his tail off,” McKenry said. “And he’s got that old-school mentality. He’s gonna play until that jersey falls off or disintegrates. As long as his arm works, he’s going to be able to do something because he’ll find a way.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: January 6, 2023, 3:54 p.m.
