Pitcher List Conversations are transcripts of interviews with professional baseball players — and sometimes, players discuss topics other than baseball. This has been lightly edited for clarity.
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Jaden Hill’s career (so far) has been influenced by injury.
Originally a multi-sport athlete who planned to play football and baseball for Louisiana State University, Hill had a collarbone issue that ended his football career and limited him to pitching in only two baseball games in 2019. The Ashdown, Arkansas, native returned in 2020, going scoreless through 11.2 innings before COVID ended the season. After making seven starts in 2021 (6.67 ERA, 25 Ks over 29.2 innings), he underwent Tommy John surgery, again ending his season early.
As Hill entered the 2022 draft, there were questions about his ability to be successful at the professional level given his injury history. However, he was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the second round. They were banking on that early talent he showed with the Tigers.
On September 7, the Rockies selected his contract, and Hill made his MLB debut in Milwaukee against the Brewers. (He went hitless in his first two outings.)
I spoke with Hill about his journey to the pros last weekend when the Rockies hosted the Chicago Cubs.
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Renee Dechert: Injuries have played a significant role in your career. What have you learned from those experiences and your recovery from Tommy John?
Jaden Hill: I’ve learned a lot. You know, physically, I’ve learned how to take care of my body better. I’ve learned what to focus on, what’s important, what’s not so important. I really take my time and focus on things. And then, from a mental standpoint, understanding that I’m going to have obstacles in my life and just learning how to get over those and seeing the bigger picture. Just keep working, keep trusting your process, keep learning, and everything’s going to work out for the better.
RD: What was it like for you the first time you got the call, and you entered the game in Milwaukee from the visitors’ bullpen? What were you thinking in that moment?
JH: I maybe had a million thoughts running through my mind at the time, thinking about the entire process that it took me to be here, that I’m finally here in this moment, that I get to share this moment with great teammates, great staff, and my family. So I had a million things going through my mind.
RD: You told us at Rockies Fest last January that when you were little, you and your dad would watch the film and you did play-by-play analysis of your football stuff.
JH: [grins] Yes, we did.
RD: Was that your idea or his?
JH: It was his idea.
I think I was in the fifth grade—it was my first year playing—and his wife is a school teacher. So they brought home a projector, we went into my room, we got a red light pen, and we watched fifth-grade football film. Any way for me to get better, he was there to help.
RD: Do you still do that?
JH: No, it’s kind of changed over time. It was something that I really used a lot for football, for baseball, not as much. It hurts me more than it helps me. So I used it for sure, but it’s not as focused and as detailed as it was when I played football.
RD: Can you talk a bit about the slider that you’ve developed, which seems to have changed a little bit. This year in Spring Training, you were throwing a huge, sweeping breaking ball in the low 80s. Now you have a shorter slider in the 84-87 range. What changed, and how does it fit in your arsenal?
Jaden Hill’s Slider Grip
JH: So at first, I was using the big, long sweeper, and then as the season went on, I started noticing that hitters were laying off the outer-half of the plate. And so my coach, we sat down and we went over it. He said, “We can try a couple of different things, try some new grips.”
So I threw a bullpen, tried some things, sped it up a little bit. I threw it a couple times in the game to see how it felt, and I started getting different swings and different reactions from hitters.
Because I throw a sinker hard and in, it’s something tight that they don’t have a lot of time to react to.
And so it’s helped out tremendously. They don’t have time to get a second thought about the pitch, and hopefully I keep developing that pitch and keep using it.
RD: How are you using it in your arsenal?
JH: I’m using it off the two-seam. Everything is off my two-seam—that’s my pitch for me to establish. So whether it’s starting with the slider and going to the two-seam, or starting with the two-seam/sinker, and then using it to expand the zone a little bit.
I’m using earlier in counts, and then I’m also using this as a put-away pitch.
RD: What’s your favorite pitch you’ve thrown this season?
JH: Pitch or the exact pitch?
RD: The exact pitch. Take me through that moment.
JH: Oh, wow. That’s a loaded question.
RD: How so?
JH: I had a lot of great moments in minor league ball this year [with the Hartford Yard Goats] with us winning the first half of the season. I was able to close a couple of games there, and that was my first time doing that. Those are guys that I came up in the system playing with, so I had some great moments there.
But I feel like the obvious answer is my first out pitch.
I got to Rhys Hoskins.
RD: Can you take me through it?
JH: It wasn’t the first pitch—I threw the first pitch for a ball—but the next pitch was a sinker, low and in, and he rolled over for a ground ball. And that was my first Major League out, so that has to do in the best pitch.
RD: What went through your mind when that happened?
JH: Oh my gosh, I’m here [laughs]. I can’t believe I’m finally here, and out here pitching against some of the best players in the world.
RD: I’ve just got three more. If you could steal a pitch from another MLB pitcher, what would it be?
JH: That’s a great question.
I’d take a couple.
I love Yu Darvish’s stuff—and these guys are probably guys that maybe don’t even fit in my arsenal, but if I could take something, I think Yu Darvish is really good.
RD: Which pitch of Darvish’s would you take?
JH: All of them. But I would probably take his slider. I would probably take Jacob deGrom’s fastball.
I just love watching deGrom pitch, and I’m glad that he’s healthy by the way. It’s good to see him.
I probably take his fastball and then just kind of go from there. There’s a lot of really good pitchers.
RD: You have a glove with The Joker on it. How did that come to be?
Jaden Hill | Photo courtesy of the Colorado Rockies
JH: It was something that I always kind of liked. I always loved superhero movies growing up.
And Joker, a lot of people take him a certain way. A lot of times he’s a villain, obviously, but if you look at a different way, he’s in his own world, and he’s doing what essentially makes him happy. He doesn’t care what anyone says or how anyone judges him.
I feel like sometimes that’s how you have to carry yourself in sports.
You can’t care what others think. You kind of have to be in your own world and doing your own thing, and then just hope that what you’re doing is for the better.
And then the idea for the design is cool. My glove company, Emery Glove Company, came up with the idea. They sent it to me. It was the dopest thing ever.
RD: Now that you’re with the Rockies, how’s Uzi?
JH: How do you know my dog’s name? [laughs]
RD: Because he was in “No Goats, No Glory.”
Episode 1 | Jaden Hill#Rockies x @GoYardGoats pic.twitter.com/KjIlJgzdla
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) July 19, 2024
JH: Oh, yeah!
RD: So I wondered if he’s in Denver, and if he was traveling, and how you’re doing.
JH: He’s here now at the hotel. We take him on plenty of walks. Hopefully, one day, we can get him in the stadium and let him run around. But he’s doing great. He’s been to every game. He’s traveled with us, and I think he’s loving the experience.