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Veteran left-hander Rich Hill is back in the big leagues. The Kansas City Royals are calling up Hill, who had been with their Triple-A affiliate in Omaha, prior to Monday’s series opener with the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, reports FanSided. The team has not yet announced the roster move. Hill could pitch as soon as Tuesday, as Kansas City’s scheduled starter is officially listed as TBA with Michael Lorenzen recently being placed on the injured list.
Once he appears in a game with the Royals, Hill will tie Edwin Jackson’s major-league record by playing for his 14th different team. Hill began his MLB career in 2005 with the Cubs, the team he could face this week. His career has taken him from the Cubs to the Orioles to the Red Sox to Cleveland to the Angels to the Yankees to the Red Sox again to the Athletics to the Dodgers to the Twins to the Rays to the Mets to the Red Sox yet again to the Pirates to the Padres to the Red Sox for a fourth time, and now the Royals.
Hill, 45, signed a minor-league contract with the Royals on May 14. He has a 5.36 ERA in nine starts with their Triple-A club, though the Pacific Coast League is very hitter friendly, plus those games were something of a spring training for Hill. On July 13, Hill struck out 10 batters in five innings, becoming the first 45-year-old to strike out 10 batters in a professional game since Nolan Ryan in 1992.
At 45 years and 132 days old on Monday, Hill will be the oldest player to appear in an MLB game since 45-year-old Ichiro Suzuki in 2019, and the oldest pitcher to appear in an MLB game since the ageless Jamie Moyer pitched until age 49 in 2012. Hill will also become the oldest player in Royals history. That distinction currently belongs to Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry, who was 45 years and 6 days old when he started for Kansas City on Sept. 21, 1983. That was the final game of Perry’s career.
Hill will be the seventh 40-something to appear in an MLB game this season, joining Max Scherzer (40), Justin Turner (40), Jesse Chavez (41), Yuli Gurriel (41), Charlie Morton (41), and Justin Verlander (42).
Last season, Hill appeared in four games with Boston and allowed two runs in 3 ⅔ relief innings. He pitched a full season as recently as 2023, when he had a 5.41 ERA in 27 starts and five relief appearances for the Pirates and Padres. Hill has a 90-74 record with a 4.01 ERA in 20 big-league seasons. He spent time in an independent league in 2015 before reviving his career with the Red Sox.