How Red Sox’s Rich Hill Performed In First Minor League Assignment

Rich Hill returned to the mound for live action for the first time in over 10 months by joining the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox on Friday night while the organization's big league club awaits the 44-year-old's arrival to Boston.

Hill spent the majority of this season devoting time to coaching his son's Little League team in Milton, Mass. Hill, who's sported 13 different big league uniforms since debuting with the Chicago Cubs nearly two decades ago in 2005, envisioned a late-season contract as the plan during the offseason. Hill hosted several organizations during a private showcase, including the Red Sox, which led to both sides agreeing on a minor-league deal last Saturday.

Less than a week later, Hill pitched at Polar Park in Worcester, and showed some encouraging flashes.

Hill tossed two scoreless and hitless innings during Worcester's 8-4 win over the Norfolk Tides. He also surrendered one walk while striking out two batters. Fifteen of the 28 total pitches thrown by Hill were strikes. The longtime veteran began the night with a bullpen session caught by Red Sox top prospect catcher Kyle Teel, who was just three years old when Hill took a big league mound for the first time in 2005.

With the Red Sox desperately in need of some make-up ground in the American League standings, the only question regarding Hill moving forward is how Boston will utilize him: In the bullpen or the starting rotation?

"I've been on teams where we were eight games up in September and didn’t make the playoffs," Hill said earlier this week, per The Boston Globe's Tara Sullivan. "We can be so instant gratification with everything that we tend to lose sight of the delayed aspect of what we're looking for. So just knowing, having the patience to not look at the standings until Sept. 15. I know a lot of people are looking now, and it's seven, eight games back. But cut that to three by Sept. 15 and it's a whole different ballgame."