NEW YORK — Rich Hill said there are a lot of reasons why at age 41 he could do well enough over six May starts to go 3-1 with a 0.78 ERA to win American League Pitcher of the Month honors.
The defense the Rays played behind him. The job done by their catchers. How they swung the bats.
Hill didn’t take any credit but he played the biggest role, working through a slow April to get comfortable with his delivery, make some adjustments to his pitches and deliver one of the most dominant months in the Rays’ pitching-rich history.
“The awards are nice, and they’re also a culmination of just work,” Hill said Wednesday. “You continue to put in the work, you continue to put in the effort, and there are byproducts of that. One of them happens to be recognition, and I think with recognition, it also isn’t an individual performance that is solely based on that one person. There’s so many people that go into that effort and that final product.”
The work is definitely key. Teammates and coaches rave about his efforts in the weight room, doing cardio, running and, of course, on the field, when he starts and the four days in between.
“That’s what I preach all the time: Put in the work, do the work, that’s it. It doesn’t get any simpler than that,” Hill said.
“And how you do your work? How do you go about putting in the work? We can go for a run. We can go and get in the gym. We can go and do a bullpen. But what’s the intensity level? How are you going about it? Because we can go through the motions and fool a lot of people. Or we can have a certain amount of intensity about the way we go about our business, and I’ve found that to be something that pays dividends.”
Hill’s performance, which included the league’s best ERA and .145 opponent’s average, can be measured in several ways.
Among Rays pitchers, his 0.78 (three earned runs in 34 2/3 innings) is the second best, with only Chris Archer’s 0.73 in July 2013 better; and he is the seventh to win the honor, first since Tyler Glasnow in April 2019.
Historically, Hill is only the fourth pitcher in more than 70 years to lead his league in ERA for a month at age 41 or older (minimum 25 innings), joining Houston’s Roger Clemens (May 2005), Texas’ Nolan Ryan (September 1992, June 1991), Chicago’s Hoyt Wilhelm (August 1965) and Cleveland’s Satchel Paige (August 1948).
Hill also posted the third-lowest ERA in a month for a pitcher 40 or older (minimum 25 innings) since earned runs became an official stat in 1913. The only ones better were Cincinnati’s Eppa Rixey (0.60 in August 1932) and Washington’s Johnny Niggeling (0.64 in May 1946.)
“Just a great performance,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Thrilled that he got it. Congrats to him. I didn’t go back and look at stats and what pitchers had done, but it was certainly hard to envision anybody had been better. So we’re thrilled for him. I know he’s been such a big part of us having so much success in the month of May (22-6), and just now kind of look forward to continue.”
This is the third monthly honor for Hill, winning with the A’s in May 2016 and the Dodgers in July 2017.
