We couldn't have to do you, so thankful you're too.

If I should stumble, I'd try to fall in love with you.

If I should stumble, I'd try to fall, I'd try to fall.

Hello and welcome to episode 1368 of Effectively Wild, a baseball-todd cast from Bandgraphs presented by our Patreon supporters.

I am Ben Lindbergh of the Ringer joined by Sam Miller of ESPN Hello Sam.

Ben, how are you?

I am doing alright. I wanted to talk to you about our pal Rich Hill, who is making his season debut for the Dodgers this Sunday.

He heard his knee, he's strained a ligament during spring training, so he hasn't pitched yet, but he has been making some rehab starts.

Did you see how he did?

Yes.

His second rehab start.

I think this is something we've talked about before this genre of baseball thing, the good major league player who pitches a rehab game against very low level competition and just destroys them, which is always fun and a reminder of how good baseball players are.

Rich Hill earlier this week, he made a second rehab start, he had already made one in pitched four score ascending for High A, and he thought he was ready, but the Dodgers disagreed, so they had him go and pitch again in extended spring training, which for those who don't know extended spring training, it's kind of a mix of players, but at this point it's typically low A players.

It's like short season minor leagueers who are just kind of waiting for short season minor leagues to start, and sometimes he get rehabbing big leagueers and another guys in there, but that's basically what it is.

So Rich Hill facing these guys, he is 39 years old as we know, but he absolutely dominated them.

He went six innings, he struck out 16, he said he threw 60 something pitches, and the other two non strike out outs came on ground balls, he allowed one hit, which he described as a jam shot single, and he was quoted as saying a lot of strikes, yeah, a lot of strikes.

I was really disappointed, I can't believe they won't let a pitcher go for 21k these days.

He really had a shot at going something, he could have had 25k's, which I'm joking, and then I am obviously joking, but then midway through I forgot that I was joking, and I actually started to think that there might be something about 25k's, when we know that in lower levels there are examples of, you know, like what didn't Clayton Kershaw have a start in high school where he struck out every batter, he threw it out.

And all strike out perfect game.

Yeah, it's just it's so great, they're so good at baseball, and you would think like at a certain point, I mean, you wonder when the lines will cross, that's another conversation we've had, like, when does the young guy catch up to the old guy, and so these are presumably like, I don't know, high teenagers, low early 20 somethings who were just out of school in some cases, and they're facing 39 year old Rich Hill.

And they almost literally can't touch him, and that's kind of incredible. So you'd have to figure that Rich Hill barring some major injury will be like well into his 40s, if not longer before players at this level can actually hit him, which is pretty impressive.

Yeah, so I want to talk about the article that you wrote that is up on ESPN, you have anything else before that, I just I just I'm thinking about what you just said in it.

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