Hill’s high-spin curve matches up well against Nationals

You know the Rich Hill story by now, right? Since leaving the Cubs in 2008, Hill spent nearly a decade cycling through nine Major League organizations (and one independent league team), trying without success to be healthy and productive at the same time … right up until four stunningly good late-season starts for Boston last year led to 20 outstanding starts for Oakland and Los Angeles this year. At 36 years old, he’s got an even 2.00 ERA over those 24 starts, and he’s getting the ball against Tanner Roark and the Nationals in Game 2 of the National League Division Series on Saturday.

We could go through all the reasons why — and we did in August, right before Hill’s Dodgers debut — but to oversimplify things, a big part of it was that when he returned to Boston’s organization last summer, pitching consultant and former big leaguer Brian Bannister noted the very high spin on Hill’s curve, and Bannister worked with Hill on throwing it far more often.

Game Date Time Matchup TV Gm 1 Oct. 7 5:30 p.m. LAD @ WSH FS1 Gm 2 Oct. 8 4 p.m. LAD @ WSH FS1 Gm 3 Oct. 10 TBD WAS @ LAD FS1 / MLBN *Gm 4 Oct. 11 TBD WAS @ LAD FS1 *Gm 5 Oct. 13 TBD LAD @ WSH FS1 *- If necessary | All times listed ETShop for postseason gear: Dodgers | Nationals • Complete Postseason coverage

The end result was that Hill took one of the better pitches in the Majors and started relying on it heavily, with a 50 percent usage rate that’s easily the highest among any starter, with the next-highest usage coming in at only 33 percent. That would matter against any opponent, but it might matter even more in Game 2, because it might be playing directly into a Washington weakness. The Nats, for all their talent, might not be well-equipped to handle that big curve.

Let’s explain, shall we? Hill throws that curveball more than anyone else in …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com