Los Angeles Dodgers: Health permitting, Rich Hill seems to have found a spot in the October rotation

After visiting the DL about a half dozen times over the last couple of seasons due to persistent blister issues, consistency has been hard to find for Dodgers veteran southpaw Rich Hill. However, after a fairly brutal first half, Hill is healthy, and has been on quite a roll for the Dodgers.

Those gunshot sized blister holes Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill has experienced in his left hand seem to be an issue he’ll continue to struggle with for the remainder of his career. He fought through a  rugged first half,  in which we generally saw Hill spending time on the D.L. because of those blisters, or giving up five runs or more on nights when he tried to pitch.

May was especially difficult for Hill, when opponents hit over .300 with an OPS over 1.000 against the lefty. He later would make a petition to Major League Baseball in which he argued he should be allowed to wear tape on his finger during games. His request was swiftly denied, and many wondered if the 38-year-old would ever find success in a major league rotation again.

However, Hill has somehow been able to keep those blisters at bay for the time being and has been flat out dominating over his last 5 games. In those last 5, (which includes four starts) Hill has 3 wins, a 2.42 ERA, and has struck out 31 in 26 innings. His last start against a talented Braves team was particularly impressive, as he struck out eight over seven innings without yielding a run.

This comes at a time when the Dodger rotation is in a bit of a flux. (when is it not?) It’s been good to see Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw back in the rotation, and though he’s been solid,  we have yet to see his old Hall of Fame self-return.

Although he’s helped eat a good number of innings, Alex Wood hasn’t been entirely convincing since his dominating first half in 2017 which saw him earn a trip to the All-Star game. He seems destined for the bullpen if the Dodgers make it to the postseason, where he figures to be effective.

The same could be said for the extremely young Walker Buehler, whose Rookie of the Year bid has taken a hit due to injury, a strict innings limit, and a couple of rough appearances of late. Ross Stripling‘s stranglehold on his postseason rotation spot isn’t quite as strong as it was a couple weeks ago.

This is in part because of a humiliating performance in the All-Star game which saw him take the loss, followed by a disastrous meltdown at the end of his last start against Philadelphia. If he can shake off those last couple of outing, Stripling still does figure to slot somewhere in LA’s postseason roster

Luckily for the Dodgers, a couple of veteran arms have stepped up. Kenta Maeda is in the midst of his best year, tallying a 3.23 ERA with a team-leading 115 strikeouts. With Rich Hill firing on all cylinders, the once foggy playoff rotation becomes slightly more clear. If Ross Stripling can put together a productive second half, the postseason rotation won’t figure to be in too bad of shape. The return of that Clayton Kershaw guy won’t hurt either. Now, LA just needs to add a flame-throwing right-handed arm to their bullpen.