Rich Hill is the oldest active MLB player and Miguel Cabrera is up there in the top five as well. It was a race for the ages when the two veterans sprinted to the first base bag in Detroit last month.
Hill talked about racing Cabrera to first base and his great closing speed with WEEI’s Rob Bradford on the Audacy Original Podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” this week.
“The sprint speed that you had, I’m not even joking, you kicked it into another gear getting over to first base,” Bradford said (33:54 in player above).
“I keep telling them every night here that I’m ready to pinch run,” Hill replied. “First I say I’m ready to pinch hit because there’s no doubt I can do that, but running, my closing speed has always been pretty great.”
Hill did have some impressive closing speed to beat Cabrera to the bag.
Everyone has been talking about Cincinnati Reds top prospect Elly De La Cruz’s start in the majors with his power and speed. Hill made his professional debut in 2002, the same year that De La Cruz was born.
“When we do the retrospective of the 2023 baseball season, the greatest athletic achievement was you sprinting to first base so far,” Bradford said. “I’m going to put up a poll, which was more impressive, you sprinting to first base or Elly De La Cruz running around the bases the other day. I know what I’m voting for.”
“I would like to actually see – now I have to go out and time myself,” Hill said. “So we can do a side-by-side comparison at some point. I have to be loose, stretched out… Just let me go first to home.”
The Pirates and Reds are battling in the NL Central so we’ll likely get to see Hill face off against De La Cruz before too long.
Related
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram