Pittsburgh Pirates: Make or Break Start for Rich Hill

The Pittsburgh Pirates will complete their 3 games series against the Houston Astros this afternoon. This has been a good test of a series and so far the Bucs have responded. They lost the first game of the series, but outside of basically 1 bad inning, the team played well. Then on Tuesday, they played similar Baseball to what we have seen over the first few weeks, good, sound, and exciting baseball.

Today the Bucs will look to win another series and make it back-to-back American League Series wins. Obviously, this would mean a lot for the team to also take the series against the defending World Series Champions as well. The question is whether or not the pitching will keep the Bucs in the game.

Rich Hill will take the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates and with that he will try to get on track for the 2023 season. Hill has been quite shaky to start the season. His ERA is over 10 in just 9 innings pitched so far. Obviously not what the Bucs were hoping for when they gave him a 1-year deal for $8 million. He is not generating enough swings and misses, only having 8 strikeouts in 9 innings. He has been erratic, to say the least leaving questions about his ability to command pitches.

The Pittsburgh Pirates should consider moving Rich Hill out of the rotation if he has another tough start.

Could the be one of Rich Hill's last starts? Absolutely it is possible. Hill is lefty, something the Bucs could eventually use in their bullpen. When Hill signed a 1-year deal it was pretty clear that the Organization wanted to bring in a quality veteran but also a potential trade chip. With the amount owed on his contract, it does not seem likely that the Bucs would just give up on Hill. A move to the bullpen might be enough to entice a team to deal for him.