Harry How/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Rich Hill has found a home after a long journey through many levels of baseball.
Hill signed a three year, 48 million dollar deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team he pitched for in the second half of 2016. The left-hander was one of the hottest commodities at this year’s Winter Meetings, but in his mind, there was never any doubt he was returning to Los Angeles.
“It’s just the fan base that’s there in L.A. and the passion that they have; the intensity to win, that’s something that we wanted and something that we wanted to come back to,” Hill said, according to ESPN. “We want to be a part of that; we want to bring a championship to L.A.”
The tall left-hander has had plenty of highs and lows since debuting with the Cubs in 2005. He was up and down in the minors for a few seasons and suffered a number of injuries and setbacks. He continued to switch teams and ended up playing for eight different organizations before landing with the Dodgers.
At the beginning of the 2015 season, he was invited to Nationals spring training but didn’t make the team and was ultimately released. After receiving no major league offers, he pitched for the Long Island Ducks of the Independent League, until the Red Sox signed him that September and had him start a game for the first time in six years.
Hill was invited to Spring Training by the Oakland Athletics at the beginning of 2016, and impressed enough this time to not only make the team, but be part of the starting rotation. He pitched so well he became the team’s ace, and was then traded to the Dodgers at the trade deadline for their playoff run.
Hill’s found a home in L.A. at the age of thirty six after never seeming to find an organization that could keep him for the long term. And over the first eleven years of his career, Hill made 11 million dollars. Now: he’ll be making 16 million a year.
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