Pittsburgh Pirates: Three More Underlying Numbers to Focus on in 2023

Rich Hill: 67.7 Inches Of Drop With Curveball

Rich Hill is the oldest player in Major League Baseball. 2023 will be his age-43 campaign. However, even though he's older, he's still been an effective starting pitcher. Last year, he had a 4.27 ERA, 3.92 FIP, and 1.30 WHIP. Overall, he was about a league-average arm while throwing below 90 MPH. Hill has always been a soft-tosser and has mostly relied on his curveball, a pitch that still has some of the most movement in baseball.

Last year, Hill's curveball had a whopping 67.7 inches of drop. This was the 5th most among pitchers last season. It also has decent horizontal movement with 17.8 inches of break. That's the third most horizontal movement in the league. 

Rich Hill rode his curveball, using it 36.5% of the time. It was the 20th most-used curveball last year. Opponents also managed a mediocre .306 wOBA against his pitch, leading to a -2 run value. While Hill doesn't get many strikeouts with the pitch, he induces soft contact fairly often. Opponents managed just a 30% hard-hit rate against the offering.