Hill's calm demeanor has roots in pee-wee football

This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

DETROIT – Jaden Hill was an athletic 10-year-old, at the time playing and dreaming of football. His father, Kenneth Hill, was a former basketball player from the University of the Ozarks.

Neither knew Jaden would grow up to pitch out of the Rockies’ bullpen. Somehow, they both knew that the film from youth football games was pointing him toward an athletic future.

“I was young, in pee-wee football,” Hill said. “I would play, and the next morning – good, bad or ugly – we would sit down in my room and put a projector on the screen, watch film.

“He would let me know, like, ‘You gave up on this play.’ It wasn’t necessarily X’s and O’s. It was more him teaching me how to become a better athlete, a better player, a better person – how to manage myself when I was out there.

“There are weaknesses in people. You find weaknesses looking at their body language, how they respond, and that’s how you attack that person. That transferred over to me and let me know other people are watching me, too. If I’m showing weakness, they know they can get to me. You can’t allow anyone to feel that way.”

On Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, Hill walked seventh-inning leadoff man Spencer Jones, and issued another walk with one out, to George Lombard Jr. The second walk meant he was a pitcher in trouble. But look for reaction, or lack thereof:

Hill put down the inning with no runs scored, and kept the Rockies close in the 5-3 loss.

Hill, 26, was a second-round Draft pick in 2021 out of LSU and has a 97 mph fastball, with a putaway pitch on each side of the plate – a changeup and a slider. The mix makes him effective against right-handed and left-handed hitters. Hill could have a ninth-inning future with those pitches.

This season is shaping up as an exercise in developing the makeup that he and his father discussed long ago.

Hill began this season with a 2.61 ERA in 23 appearances through May. But in his next nine games, he went 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA in just six innings pitched before going to the injured list with right shoulder tendinitis – his first Major League injury shelving.

His return saw three spotless appearances, then a test of resolve.

On Aug. 29, with the Rockies leading, 1-0, in Atlanta, Hill entered with two out in the seventh and walked Austin Riley before striking out Lane Thomas to end the frame. Sent back out for the eighth – his first time finishing an inning then starting the next since the injury – Hill retired the first two batters, then yielded three straight hits, the third a Michael Harris II two-run double that gave the Braves a 2-1 victory.

Hill spent lengthy minutes after the game staring into his locker. At least no opponent saw this moment.

“That was tough for me,” Hill said. “I had gone such a long time without experiencing the ups and downs. The entire bullpen was pitching well. The team was tired – no off-days, travel. I felt that was on my shoulders and it felt personal, so it took me a little to get over that. I went to the hotel to clear my head, eat some food … just me in a dark room.

“Once I was able to shake it off, I was OK.”

He had more shaking to do in his next outing, at home against the Orioles. After giving up a Jackson Holliday seventh-inning homer that erased a one-run lead, Hill stayed composed and put down the inning. TJ Rumfield’s two-run shot in the bottom of the inning put Colorado ahead for good.

The period of two blown saves, the second of which became a win, was a test within a test.

“Every big league reliever is going to be pitching back-to-back, and pitching fatigued in a really big moment,” Rockies bullpen coach Matt Buschmann said. “In reality, it’s counterintuitive: When the stakes are high, it’s like, ‘How can I stay calm? I don’t want to sell out to get my pitch where it needs to go. I don’t need to throw harder to get it to go where it needs to go.’ That’s a learning thing for him.”

For now, the Rockies have a closer in Jordan Romano who is a free agent at season’s end but has expressed interest in returning, which means Hill could solidify himself as a setup man.

One strategy for building the Rockies is to trade strong-armed relievers. Current relievers Nick Frasso (from the Dodgers for Seth Halvorsen) and Mark Manfredi (from the Brewers for Antonio Senzatela), and second baseman Connor Norby (from the Marlins for Victor Vodnik) are examples. Hill said front-office moves are beyond his control, but he hopes to reach his dreams with the Rockies.

Romano is impressed with the power pitch mix, and he is seeing the all-important demeanor.

“When you’re a young pitcher and you’re put in a tight spot, and it does not go well, that’s not the issue,” said Romano, who added that he still has sleepless nights and flashbacks the next morning before shaking off a blown save. “How do you bounce back from that? He’s bouncing back great.”

Hill happily displays his even keel.

“It’s something that’s been instilled in me since I was a little kid,” he said. “It’s a long season and a tough game, and there are going to be obstacles. But it’s up to us to push through it.”