The Kansas City Royals signed veteran left-handed pitcher Rich Hill, who is 45 years old, to a minor league deal on Wednesday.
If he pitches for the big-league club this year, it will be his 21st season; Hill has pitched in at least one Major League game every year since 2005.
Hill will report to the club’s spring training facility in Arizona and then to the Omaha Storm Chasers, the Royals’ Triple-A minor league affiliate, in the coming weeks.
The Milton, Massachusetts, native made four relief appearances for the Boston Red Sox last season, the team he supported growing up.
Last year, Hill waited until summer to sign with a team for two reasons. One is that he coached his son’s Little League team, and the other is that, at his age, he doesn’t think he can pitch for an entire season.
If Hill pitches in the big leagues this year, he would be the oldest player in the league by a full three years. The current oldest player is San Francisco Giants starting pitcher and future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, age 42.
Unlike other players with 20-year careers, Hill hasn’t been a superstar, and his career looked like it was finished a decade ago.
Hill began his career as a starting pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. However, he suffered injuries and had a stretch in the late 2000s and early 2010s when he was a journeyman, often serving as relief pitching depth in Triple-A for MLB teams.
Ultimately, the lefty reinvented himself by raising his arm slot in the summer of 2015 while coaching his nephew’s legion baseball in his hometown of Milton. The Red Sox signed him, and he had a 1.55 ERA in four starts at the end of the 2015 season, which landed him an opportunity with the Oakland Athletics in 2016 and several other teams afterward, including the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He was effective, even making World Series starts for the Dodgers in 2017 and 2018.
Hill’s abilities have declined in recent years. But if the Royals call him up, he’ll be the first 45-year-old to play in the big leagues since Hall of Fame outfielder Ichiro Suzuki did it in 2019.
