Back in June, the White Sox would DFA Tim Hill after a stretch of poor outings, and as he cleared waivers the Yankees would ink him to a deal. The left-hander was seen more as a placeholder in a bullpen that would be overhauled, the kind of arm we would cut ties with to make space for other pitchers who would be imported onto the roster. With a 5.87 ERA on the season before making his debut with the Yankees, there wasn’t much-perceived upside here, especially since his game isn’t reliant on missing bats, something that didn’t fit well with a bullpen that couldn’t punch tickets.
Fast-forward to right now, and Tim Hill has become a key cog in a bullpen that’s starting to find its identity, and while the Yankees probably didn’t anticipate him earning high-leverage innings, he’s now one of their top options against lefties.
Tim Hill Has Stepped Up Big Time For the Yankees
One of the areas that the Yankees have been weakest all year has been their bullpen, especially on the left-handed side of things. Tim Hill is filling a massive hole on this roster that was left behind when Wandy Peralta signed with the San Diego Padres, which is what they hoped one of Victor Gonzalez or Caleb Ferguson would do coming into the season. It became an even greater need after the deadline, where the Yankees didn’t do a great job landing pitching depth, and notably couldn’t land a left-handed reliever.
The overall body of work for Tim Hill has been incredible since donning the pinstripes, sporting a strong 2.19 ERA and a nice 69% groundball rate. While the strikeouts aren’t there, his underlying metrics are still strong thanks to his ability to suppress damage contact at a high level. Batters have just two barrels against him with a -7.3° launch angle, allowing him to get quick outs and double plays in high-leverage situations. One would imagine that someone like Hill would struggle in high leverage, but he’s been remarkably clutch for this team as well.
Using the “Clutch” metric on FanGraphs, we can measure how much better a pitcher gets in high-leverage situations compared to their normal production. Since joining the Yankees, Tim Hill is 11th among qualified relievers (+0.58) in Clutch, meaning he elevates his game more than most in the most important moments of a game. The reason for that is his sinker, a pitch that the Yankees have helped Hill improve even with its declining velocity.
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Not only are the Yankees having Tim Hill throw his sinker more, but they’ve also lowered the release height, allowing him to get more vertical drop on the pitch. This makes it even harder for batters to get underneath, resulting in the harmless contact we’ve seen time and time again on groundballs. It also helps that the defense behind Tim Hill is a lot better, and that’s not just referring to his infielders or outfielders. Hill also greatly benefits from the fact that he can attack the first base side of the plate with sinkers and have Austin Wells or Jose Trevino swipe some strikes for him.
He’s more comfortable being a zone-filler, and as a result, batters are expanding the zone more often against him because they’re anticipating a pitcher who is willing to attack early and get ahead. With how much his sinker moves and how unique his release points are, Tim Hill can invite plenty of contact and have plenty of success. The Yankees need as many arms as they can get in that bullpen, even if they aren’t the prototypical power arm. It’s not just a story of a veteran finding themselves again, but rather one of a person who has done nothing but battle back.
Back in 2015, Tim Hil was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer, the same kind of cancer that took his father’s life just eight years prior. The pain inflicted by cancer cannot be done justice through words, and for the Hill family, it would bring back painful memories of a loved one who they lost less than a decade prior. Chemotherapy and willpower allowed Tim Hill to return back onto the mound in 2016, making his Major League debut just two years later. Due to Lynch syndrome, he’s at a higher risk of cancers such as colon cancer, and yet he continues to battle.
He could have hung his spikes up after a 2023 campaign where his ERA skyrocketed to 5.48 or when the White Sox cut him loose this past season, but he didn’t. Tim Hill has overcome adversity at every step of his professional career, being drafted in the 32nd Round of the 2014 MLB Draft, a round so late that it doesn’t even exist anymore. A reliever who relies on their 89 MPH sinker in a league where everyone’s throwing 95 and picking up strikeouts, the left-hander has become a key cog to the Yankees’ bullpen, where he looks to add “World Series Champion” to his laundry list of accomplishments.