Quote:
It was even more bizarre how he became nearly unhittable for those 24 starts over '15-'16.
Everything aside from that little stretch is just vintage crappy Hill.
Basically 140 innings of non-suckiness vs an entire career or ineptitude. Not surprising at all imo.
My best guess, from looking at pitch usage this month: His huge curveball % is causing blister issues, they're forcing him to use less curveballs.
2016: 984 Fourseam, 36 Slider, 986 Curve (48 other pitches)
May pitches: 117 Fourseam, 2 Slider, 126 Curve
June pitches: 116 Fourseam, 15 slider, 64(!!) Curve
I would assume curveball was his best pitch, using less of it is causing less outs, and he's becoming hittable again. They need to just let him use his curveball a lot and endure blisters imo.