Dont Sleep On Me: Nick Hill

Like a few other guys in this system Nick Hill had kind of a down year in terms of what we all expected and has generally been forgotten about.

Some had thought they he might even have an appereance in Seattle by the end of the year and most thought he eventually end up in Seattle. Fangraphs’ Marc Hulet had ranked him as the Mariners #7 prospect going into 2010.

Suffice to say he disappointed spending the year in West Tennessee and running into a slew of different injuries earlier this year. I’m not able to nail down exactly what he experienced but we know that it kept him from throwing much during April/May time frame, only making two starts.

After returning form his injury he went to the bullpen and from June on was able to pitch in 37 Innings. During which he produce some interesting numbers that tends to be overlooked.

While it’s a smaller sample size being that he’s missing two months of play it gives us an idea that he could still be a capable reliever. But digging further into it you see he had some pretty drastic splits.

What is more interesting is the fact that Hill has been given credit for having one of the better change-ups in the orgaization per Baseball America (Matt Eddy) as of just last year. Not only that but he was also credited with having a “decent” curve which again should have helped against RHB.

Regardless of the outcome from last year I believe that Hill still has the ceiling as a LOOGy and perhaps more should he rediscover that once infamous change-up.

I didn’t know where to fit it in here. But in case you missed it last January, Jeff Sulivan had an interesting piece on him. A very good read should you wish to know more about him.