On Tuesday afternoon, Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill was a guest on MLB Network Radio’s Inside Pitch with show hosts Ryan Spilborghs and Cliff Floyd. And while there was some good natured ribbing between Hill and Floyd, who were teammates with the Chicago Cubs in 2007, most of the conversation dealt with the outstanding work ethic and intensity that has kept the soon-to-be 38-year-old Boston, Massachusetts native in the game for 13 seasons … and counting.

“You never know when that turning point is going to be,” Hill said, in answer to Floyd’s question about his longevity. “It could be in a day, it could be in a week, it could be in a month, it could be in a year, but you have to be willing to kind of wait it out. And if you tell yourself, and if you continue to put the time in, and continue to put the work in, good things will come to pass.”

During the interview, Spilborghs pointed out that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts once referred to Hill as “…absolutely crazy; he sees red, bordering on psychotic – but in the best possible way.” Has the former 2002 fourth-round draft pick (by the Cubs) out of the University of Michigan always been this way?

“I don’t know if I was always like that,” Hill answered. “I just … I think in anything there is always another level, there’s always something else that you can get to and reach for it. It’s not necessarily craziness that’s being portrayed out there, it’s just an intensity, it’s really the passion for pitching. I love to pitch. And really that’s what it is at the end of the day, it’s trying to be … what you see out there on the mound and maybe a little bit of animation and stuff like that, it’s just trying to constantly stay on myself and focusing on the moment and every single pitch.

“It’s not about what happened the pitch before, the inning before, the game before or whatever happened the day before, it’s just about focusing and giving a hundred percent effort on that pitch,” added Hill. “I think, at the end of the day, it’s the effort that’s the separator. It’s something that nobody is really given, you just have to be able to understand that you have it and it can come without talent. The effort can be there and you have to understand how to use that and focus it in on, for me, every single pitch, or for a hitter on every single swing.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts described Rich Hill’s intensity as “…absolutely crazy. He sees red, bordering on psychotic.” (Photo credit – John Cordes)

As expected, it didn’t take long for the conversation to turn to Hill’s blister issues that have plagued him during his first two seasons with the Dodgers. But in spite of the efforts by the training staff and even a few home remedies – some of which are way out there – to help eliminate the blisters and develop callouses on his fingers, the actual cause of the blisters may be somewhat surprising to Dodger and Rich Hill fans.

“In the last year and a half, there was something that did happen with the baseball. I don’t know what it was, it’s kind of the big mystery question,” Hill explained. “You hear it from a lot of pitchers that haven’t really dealt with blisters that are coming up with blisters in that time frame. For me it’s really just being able to condition your finger to the new baseballs or to the seems of the baseball, whatever it might be that’s different, sometimes the seems are a little bit higher.

“When I came up in the league, the seems – every time that you would get a ball it was like there were no seems on the baseball – and the only thing I can compare it to is like when you’re playing golf and you play with oversized clubs, and before you would play with a blade,” said Hill. “And most of the baseballs, you had to throw the curveball the correct way in order to make it break the way that you want it to. Now, I mean you can get away with throwing it not as efficiently and still have extremely good break on the breaking ball.

“That’s the biggest thing that I’ve noticed, the change in the ball has actually led to maybe not as much of refining of having to be so perfect where you release the ball as a pitcher,” Hill continued. “Where you release the ball as a pitcher, I think that has changed, along with obviously the health issue of blisters that are popping up.”

Spilly next asked Hill the million dollar question … the one that is the biggest concern of every Dodger fan on the planet: What do you do if you do happen to get another blister?

“I think that there are a couple different things you can do if you get a blister, but I think really the biggest thing is how do you callous it to the point where you can condition it so that you don’t get one, and that’s making sure that you’re self-aware of where you feel it, where it’s getting hot or there’s going to be a hot spot on your finger that’s coming out, that’s kind of like a red flag is there, and ‘I gotta stop throwing,'” Hill answered. “Because if you continue to throw, you can make it obviously something where it could be a month, it could be a month and a half where you miss a lot of major time during the season.

“But really the biggest thing is that conditioning the finger with the seems, and if you can get something like a piece of wood or something like that and just kind of gradually rub it along the wood,” said Hill. “It’s almost like an emery board or you’re trying to file it to create a callous instead of a blister.”

Hill made two starts with the Dodgers Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in 2017 while rehabbing from his blister issues. And even though he lasted only two-thirds of an inning in his first, he tossed five no-hit innings in his second. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Needless to say, the Dodgers – and their fans – are hoping that Hill is long past his blister issues. Heaven knows that with the team’s lack of activity thus far this off-season to add a proven starter to their 2018 rotation, they are very much going to need a blister-free Rich Hill.

Stay tuned…