Hill flashes potential -- and 100 mph fastball -- for Twins in Spring Breakout

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Dasan Hill gave a sheepish smile and a little shrug.

Then, he admitted something that shouldn’t have been much of a surprise. Yes, Hill said, he might have been trying to light up the radar gun in the first inning of Thursday’s Spring Breakout game.

The starter for the Twins prospects in a 9-3 win over a team of Phillies prospects, Hill is a hard-throwing left-hander who has hit 100 mph earlier this spring. So, yes, he was pleased to register 100 on a Major League mound. 100.1 to be exact, in addition to a 99.7 and a couple at 99.4.

“I mean, a little bit,” Hill said. “Little bit, yeah. After that, it was just kind of slide and cruise a little bit, but yeah, for sure.”

After hitting those top-end numbers, Hill settled in, sitting 95-96 mph and touching 97 mph the rest of the way.

After his Spring Breakout debut, Hill was all smiles. He struck out three batters in 2 2/3 innings, allowing one unearned run, two hits and two walks. Hill faced a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the third and got a pair of swinging strikeouts on his changeup before handing off to reliever Eston Stull with no additional damage.

Hill had hoped to pitch in the Spring Breakout game last year before his first regular-season professional appearance. Finally, he got the chance and seized it.

“It’s awesome,” Hill said. “Getting to compete against the best, I thrive in that environment, big games like that. An experience with my teammates is fun.”

Hill obviously has a big-time arm, and the Twins are excited about his potential. It’s not an accident that he was selected to start this game.

“We felt like it would be something that he’d get up for, face really good competition with all the Phillies prospects,” said Tommy Bergjans, the Twins’ director of Minor League pitching development. “Get him pitching in an environment like this, which I know he really thrives off of.”

Hill is drawing notice this spring, and it starts with a velocity spike that allows him to reach triple-digits occasionally. He also features a nasty slider/sweeper, as well as a changeup and a curveball. For pure stuff, he doesn’t have a lot of equals, as he displayed when he got in trouble on Thursday.

“I’ve had a bunch of games where I’m in that situation, and I thrive under pressure,” Hill said. “Being able to get out of those big situations, it felt good to be able to rely on my stuff and get out of it.”

Hill has only one year of professional baseball, and he just turned 20 in December. He’s a good ways from the Majors as he works on his control and tries to stay healthy. But his potential is immense, and it’s likely that Thursday won’t be the last time he pitches on the big field in Fort Myers.