SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Right-handed relief pitcher Jaden Hill heeded the advice of his new Rockies pitching coaches -- use the slider against left-handed batters. After sticking with the pitch through some sideways results earlier this spring, the instruction paid off in Sunday afternoon’s 4-4 tie with the Guardians at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.
How it will pay off for Hill, 26, when camp ends is anyone’s guess -- and he has learned not to do that kind of guessing.
Hill, who has made 37 Major League appearances over two seasons, buzzed through his inning Sunday. He fanned the first of two lefty swingers, Angel Martínez, on the slider. He used the pitch twice before coaxing a line-drive out from Chase DeLauter, who homered off him a week ago in Goodyear, Ariz. A right-on-right fly ball from David Fry ended his outing. This reduced Hill's Cactus League ERA to 13.50, but he’s headed the right way.
“It was a pitch that I got the feel for last year and used it, especially against righties but not against lefties,” Hill said. “Coming in here with the new staff, we sat down. They had goals for me, I had goals. We found a mutual one that was the slider, especially throwing it more to lefties.”
Hill finds himself competing for a spot in the Rockies’ bullpen, the strongest part of the team.
There is right-handed experience on the Major League roster in Jimmy Herget, along with lefty Brennan Bernadino. There are non-roster veterans in righty John Brebbia, who fanned two in his inning on Sunday to keep his spring ERA at 0.00, and lefty Parker Mushinski, who gave up five runs in his first Cactus League outing on Feb. 22 but none since. And Hill is one of many pitchers who have appeared with the club over the past two years, with all having impressed at times.
Add to that the idea that the Rockies are considering keeping two or even all of the fifth starter candidates, which would place one or two of them in the bullpen, and decisions are in the hands of the front office and manager Warren Schaeffer.
Good stuff and even a strong finish to the spring doesn't guarantee an Opening Day job. Hill discovered that last year under former manager Bud Black and the previous front office. Hill gave up four runs in two-thirds of an inning in his first outing, then two runs total over his final eight appearances.
Yet, he began the year with Triple-A Albuquerque, as all the conditions that challenge any club’s roster management came into play. He was called up on April 20 for three games, went back down and sustained a hamstring injury that kept him out of the Majors until July 27.
“Experience -- experience through injuries, through struggles, through off-the-field stuff, on-the-field stuff,” Hill said. “I didn’t make the team last year, so I remember what that felt like. I remember how I felt going home that day that they told me. I remember it, but you grow as a man and you keep working, keep going forward.”
Bouncing back is part of the game in the Majors. That’s one reason Hill was happy with his work on Sunday.
He faced DeLauter and Fry one week ago. Who would make the necessary adjustments?
Hill prevailed.
“That is such a respectable hitting team,” Hill said. “You want to work on something in a game situation, but you want to do it against the best competition to see if it works.”
Hill is making his case to make his first Opening Day roster while trusting that, whatever happens, the goal is for him to be a better pitcher.
“I respect our staff, our front office, so much that the decisions they make, you have to accept it,” Hill said. “And you want to work hard, and work hard for ‘Schaef,’ whether I’m there or anywhere else.”
Same lesson
Righty Seth Halvorsen, who served as Colorado's closer for part of last season, entered Sunday's game with the same assignment as Hill -- mix in a slider against a lefty-hitting part of Cleveland's lineup. Halvorsen struck out two and reached triple digits with his fastball, but he fell behind in some counts and walked a man in his inning.
Fall League standout
Right-hander and Arizona Fall League Relief Pitcher of the Year Cade Denton entered in the eighth and struck out all three batters he faced.
Denton a 24-year-old 2023 sixth-round Draft pick from Oral Roberts, threw strikes on nine of his 12 pitches in his Cactus League debut.
“That was one of the most exciting parts of today,” Schaeffer said. “I love seeing that from a guy we haven’t seen yet. Come in and have confidence in that sinker.”