Los Angeles Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon made some headlines last week when he said that the 162-game MLB season is too long.
Rendon has played in a total of 200 games over the past four seasons since signing with the Angels. He previously won a World Series with the Washington Nationals in 2019.
Veteran pitcher Rich Hill joined Rob Bradford on the Audacy original podcast "Baseball Isn't Boring" and gave his thoughts on Rendon's comments about the MLB season being too long.
“I would like to see the season go all year. I think that would be great,” Hill said (32:54 in player above). “I can’t get enough baseball. I love it.”
Hill, who turns 44 in March, is looking to join a team for his 20th MLB season.
“If you enjoy it and you love something and you’re passionate about it, of course you want to have good outcomes, but it’s more than that,” Hill continued. “It’s the competitiveness. It’s that ability to go out there and put yourself up against the best. You can’t do it anywhere else except in the big leagues.”
Hill has played for 13 different teams over his 19-year career, most recently with the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres last season. His passion has kept him going long after other players may have hung up the cleats.
“If you remove everything, why are we doing it? Why do you do it?” he emphasized. “Why is it important to you? Are you going to continue to show up when you’ve had four bad games in a row as a starter? You’ve had three bad outings as a reliever and now you’re on the cooler, you’re not going to pitch for 15 days. Are you going to continue to show up when you’re 0-for-40? To me, it’s yes, yes, yes. It’s always a yes.
“I think that’s where everybody needs to get as far – I don’t look at it as a job. I look at it as an opportunity. I look at it as a possibility of what’s to come but not getting there without staying in today, what today is offering and what I see in front of me, and being engaged with the teammates that I have and the coaches that are around me and making that day visceral as opposed to focusing in on somewhere else or how my body feels or whatever.”
The 43-year-old pitcher may not always feel his best, but he’s taking advantage of the opportunity while he still can.
“Yeah, of course it feels like s–t, I’m 43, right, you have those days that aren’t going to be great but you have to be able to remove your focus from whatever ailments you might have,” Hill continued. “It’s like man, this guy is putting in the work. That guy is putting in the work.
“You look around and if you’re having questions of doubt or challenges of why you’re doing this because things aren’t showing up in the stat pages or whatever on the internet – for me, it’s so ingrained, the passion to go out there and continuously find that line that you’re looking for and teetering on of out of control and in control, body wise, to be able to be the best that you can be. That’s exciting.”
Hill appeared in 32 games last season, making 27 starts with five appearances out of the bullpen. He compiled a 4.87 ERA and 1.52 WHIP across 146.1 innings. While he’s certainly not what he once was, Hill’s presence and attitude towards the game can go a long way for any team.