TORONTO — From the camera view, Derek Hill seemingly came out of nowhere for another highlight catch. But as he closed the gap with each stride on Blue Jays rookie Kevin Smith’s drive in left-center field, he had a moment of decision.
It was Hill’s second game back from the full-speed collision with Akil Baddoo that landed both of them on the injured list a week and a half earlier. Hill avoided a concussion, but felt like he had been in a car crash. That, too, was in left-center, though closer to the warning track. Robbie Grossman saw Hill coming on Sunday and had pulled off, but Hill had to trust that.
Then, as Hill began to lean over his legs, came the artificial turf. This wasn’t going to be a dive on the natural grass of Comerica Park. This was going to leave a mark.
Hill went all-out for it. Ever since his pro career began at West Michigan, he has always gone for it. It’s part of the reason his path to Detroit took longer. It’s part of the reason he has a good chance to stay.
“If we’re talking about all of them as a group,” manager A.J. Hinch said of his young outfielders, “I’ll have Derek Hill in center field. He’s the best center fielder in our organization, and commands that position as well as anybody I’ve been around.”
Hinch has been around some very good center fielders. George Springer rated average or better in three of his four seasons in center when Hinch was in Houston. Jake Marisnick was an outstanding center fielder by metrics with Hinch’s Astros. Chris Young had a very good stretch in center field during Hinch’s managerial tenure in Arizona. Hinch also played in Kansas City with a young Carlos Beltrán, who went on to win three consecutive Gold Gloves in center.
Hill has a plus-1 rating on Outs Above Average, according to Statcast, and has a higher success rate on catches (87 percent) than expected (86). Not susprisingly, his strength in the ratings is on plays behind him and towards left field. He’s minus-1 on balls he has to come in on.
Plays like Sunday demonstrate why Hinch loves him.
“He sells out from contact,” Hinch said of Hill before the game. “Everybody talks about route efficiency a lot, and we start grading these things and we’re all looking for the perfect route. I’m looking for the perfect effort.
“His first step, he’ll go to the direction and he will correct his route, but he has different gears that he can go to and turn it on to complete a play. I’ve watched him take perfect routes. I’ve watched him correct routes. He will not give up on an out.”
Sunday’s catch was surprisingly not a low-percentage play, with a 60-percent catch probability according to Statcast. But Hill had to cover 92 feet to make it. His route took him 94 feet, his fourth longest distance covered to make a catch this year. More impressive, he reached a sprint speed of 29.8 feet per second — his fastest speed to make a catch this season and the second-fastest speed by any Tigers outfielder on a catch this year. Only Cleveland’s Oscar Mercado reached a faster speed to make a catch on the turf at Rogers Centre this year.
“He can cover ground because he commits to trying to make the catch from contact,” Hinch said. “He doesn’t wait to see if I can catch it. If he takes a bad step, he’s still selling out with his next few steps in order to correct his route if it’s not perfect. Route efficiency is one thing; it’s a cool thing to grade. But if you watch outfielders from different angles, you start to see and appreciate guys that do both. They’re efficient and they sell out to make catches.”
There’s obviously a danger to that of collision — with other outfielders or with walls. Baddoo has had his share of injuries from both. He went all-out into the center-field wall at Comerica Park earlier this summer and injured his shoulder. He went all-out on the catch in Baltimore that landed him on the injured list; his sprint speed of 28.3 feet per second also ranks in his top 10 on defense. So did Baddoo, who was playing in left and actually ran slightly faster at 28.5 ft/sec.
“It was just one of those freak ones, where it’s right in between us,” Hill said Saturday. “It’s part of the game. Just gotta work a little bit harder to kind of feel everything out and learn the dimensions of the field a little bit and keep going from there.”
Hill didn’t suffer any head injury, and he remembers the play. It does not change his style, notably when moving from the cozier outfield of Camden Yards to more spacious Comerica Park and Rogers Centre.
“Just like nothing happened,” Hill said. “I mean, it’s a freak accident. Just gotta go on to the next play, no matter what.”