Pirates Transactions

Pirates, Rich Hill Agree To One-Year Contract For 2023

Published

1 year ago

December 27, 2022

The Pittsburgh Pirates have added another piece to their rotation as they have agreed to a one-year, $8M deal with veteran lefty Rich Hill, a source confirmed to Pittsburgh Baseball Now. ESPN’s Jeff Passan was first to report the agreement.

Hill, now 42 years old, is an 18-year major league veteran, having spent the 2022 season in Boston With the Red Sox.

With Boston, Hill went 8-7 with a 4.27 ERA/3.92 FIP in 26 starts spanning 124.1 innings.

The Pirates will be the 12th team for Hill in his big league career. In 350 career games/221 starts, Hill is 82-59 with a 3.85 ERA with just shy of 1,300 strikeouts in 1,259 innings.

The veteran southpaw had a career resurgence beginning in 2015. Since the beginning of that year, Hill is 58-37 with a 3.32 ERA in 153 appearances, 151 of which were starts.

In addition to being the oldest active player in the league, Hill is 15th among active players in K/9 (9.3) and is 19th in winning percentage (.582).

It’s the third straight season in which the Pirates have added a veteran left-hander to the rotation. The Bucs inked Tyler Anderson to a one-year deal prior to the 2021 season and signed Jose Quintana last offseason.

The deal also represents the largest financial commitment for the Pirates under GM Ben Cherington, eclipsing Carlos Santana’s $6.725M deal which was signed earlier this offseason.

Hill joins Vince Velasquez as the Pirates’ additions to their starting rotation this offseason.