This past offseason, many Yankees fans grew anxious as Cody Bellinger remained unsigned and the club’s only outside addition appeared to be Ryan Weathers. These were the days before the “run it back Yankees” became the reality surrounding the roster construction for 2026. Even after signing Bellinger and making a few additional moves, many felt the team did not do enough to go all in for a chance to finally capitalize on Aaron Judge’s championship window.
Most of the frustration centered around the team
not addressing third base, finding a right-handed backup catcher, or fortifying the bullpen. That bullpen, mind you, had just lost the previous off-season’s prized closer acquisition from the Brewers in Devin Williams, as well as Luke Weaver, the former Cardinals castoff turned bullpen staple of the past few seasons, as they both headed across town to Queens.
How could a team with championship aspirations seemingly not address losing two high-leverage relievers from the previous year? Before the season, Brian Cashman pointed toward last summer’s trade deadline acquisitions of David Bednar and Camilo Doval as part of the organization’s reasoning for staying relatively quiet. Sure, those high-profile trade acquisitions bring traditional high-octane stuff to the late innings, but there’s another player who has been even more instrumental in stabilizing the Yankee ‘pen, and his name is Tim Hill.
Hill’s performance during the 2026 season has been nothing short of spectacular and has helped buoy the bullpen while the unit struggled through parts of early April. Now just over a month into the season, the Yankees entered Thursday with the sixth-best bullpen ERA in baseball at 3.35 across 129 innings pitched.
Of those 129 innings, Hill has pitched 14.1 of them in 16 games, entering Thursday. So far on the season the thirty-six-year-old journeyman has posted a 1.26 ERA and had allowed zero of his nine inherited runners to score (he finally let an inherited runner cross home plate against the Rangers on Thursday afternoon). This is the type of performance that is expected from big ticket relievers, not a cheap, soft tossing lefty. So how has Hill been so successful?
Since he was released in 2024 by the White Sox and claimed by the Yankees, Hill has seen the organization’s pitching lab significantly alter his pitch usage. Prior to joining the Yankees, Hill threw his four-seam fastball roughly 30 percent of the time while in Kansas City and closer to 50 percent on average in San Diego. That number dropped to 13.7 percent last season and fell even further to just 8.1 percent in 2026.
Instead, the Yankees have leaned heavily into Hill’s sinker. This season, the pitch accounts for more than 80 percent of his offerings. Before arriving in New York, the highest sinker usage rate of Hill’s career came in 2022 with the Padres when he threw it 54.5 percent of the time.
Besides throwing his sinker more, Hill has upped the usage of his slider. After trending downward for several seasons, the pitch now accounts for 11.9 percent of his arsenal. The slider is also coming in roughly eight miles per hour slower than it did last season, giving it more sweeping action and further disrupting hitters’ timing.
Hill also does an excellent job keeping his release point on all three of these pitches very consistent, making them even more deceptive to the hitter. The results have been dramatic. Hill currently has the highest groundball rate of his career at 79.1 percent.
Opponents have been hitting the ball hard off Hill with an average exit velocity of 91.5 mph. For reference, the league average is 87.7 mph. But much of that contact comes in the form of sharply hit groundballs rather than dangerous lift. That can be seen in Hill’s tiny 2.3 percent barrel rate and -9.2 launch angle.
The Yankees have increasingly emphasized the sinker and deception, and several pitchers on the staff have reaped the rewards. Hill’s profile fits that mold perfectly. While he is not the modern-day flamethrower, he offers a change of pace from a unique arm slot and has become a trusted option out of the pen for Aaron Boone.
In addition to posting incredible numbers, Hill was also the recipient of the 2025 Tony Conigliaro Award from the Boston Red Sox. The award recognizes a big leaguer who “has overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination, and courage.”
Adversity has followed Hill throughout much of his life. He lost his father to colon cancer during his sophomore year of high school in 2007. Then, after being selected in the 2014 MLB Draft, Hill was diagnosed with Lynch syndrome and Stage 3 colon cancer during spring training in 2015 at just 25 years old. He underwent surgery, radiation, and eight months of chemotherapy while facing a projected five-year survival rate between 65 and 75 percent.
I am sure Tim Hill’s baseball career has not gone exactly as he once scripted it in his dreams. It certainly has not followed a conventional path, but it has produced another story that simply makes you want to cheer for the guy.
As the summer unfolds, I expect the Yankees to do their due diligence on every available high-leverage relief pitcher ahead of the trade deadline. As we all know, you can never have too much pitching, and Cashman has never been afraid to make a move if he believes the value is right. However, the efforts and success of players like Hill allow the organization to approach those decisions deliberately rather than out of necessity or panic as it continues chasing championship number 28.
