Hill named AL Comeback POY

[xAIRNESSx]

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/ar ... p&c_id=tor

After one of the most prolific offensive showings in club history, Hill has been named the American League's Comeback Player of the Year in voting by 30 MLB.com beat reporters. Hill received 14 first-place votes, five second-place votes and three third-place votes to finish ahead of Red Sox catcher Victor Martinez and Twins outfielder Michael Cuddyer in balloting.

Toward the end of last season, while Hill was coping with not being able to return to Toronto's lineup, someone told him about the Comeback Player honor. Hill was determined enough on his own to prove that he could return strong this season, and at the time he joked with former general manager J.P. Ricciardi about capturing the accolade.

"I told J.P., 'I'm going to win that Comeback Player of the Year thing,'" Hill recalled with a laugh this past September. "He probably wouldn't remember that, but I do."

Aaron was just dialed in this season. Definitely feel like he'll be able to carry that going forward. Should be getting the Silver Slugger too.

[s e n s i]

Aaron Hill shat on everyone this season. Boy, what a player. It'd be foolish for us to expect him to sustain similar numbers for the rest of his contract, but even 75% of his offensive output this season would suffice for what he's earning.

He just doesn't miss too many mistakes. My only gripe would be that he doesn't hit the ball enough to the opposite field, but when you're tallying upwards of 35 jacks who really gives a damn. The elite second basemen for the coming years fellas.

[Hoopstarr]

Absolutely fantastic comeback season. No one should take coming back from a concussion for granted.

That said, I don't see him repeating this ever again. His swing rates at balls in and out of the zone are well above league average--a result of Cito probably telling him to hack away. All but one of his HR were to left field and a lot of them were of the "just enough" variety (http://www.hittrackeronline.com/detail. ... ype=hitter) due to a huge and lucky jump in his HR/FB rate.

The more telling stats regarding Hill's future are his meh OBP and wOBA numbers: .330 and .354. That OBP is just league average and the wOBA is just OK. For reference, Lind's wOBA was .394, which is really good. When Hill's HR/FB rate corrects next year, those "just enough" fly balls won't be HRs, they'll be long doubles. That's not a bad thing at all. I'll take 45-50 doubles from him any day.

Expect the rest of his career to be more like this: about 20-25 HR, 45ish doubles, with poor OBP. Add to that some of the best defense from 2B in the majors. He was 4th in RZR (range) and tops in OOZ (out of zone plays) and DPs turned among ML 2Bs. Nothing wrong with that at all.

[RockTHECasbah]

the best second baseman in the game

[Avenger]

Good job Aaron, now get on base more and stop hacking away so much.

[Avenger]

Absolutely fantastic comeback season. No one should take coming back from a concussion for granted.

That said, I don't see him repeating this ever again. His swing rates at balls in and out of the zone are well above league average--a result of Cito probably telling him to hack away. All but one of his HR were to left field and a lot of them were of the "just enough" variety (http://www.hittrackeronline.com/detail. ... ype=hitter) due to a huge and lucky jump in his HR/FB rate.

The more telling stats regarding Hill's future are his meh OBP and wOBA numbers: .330 and .354. That OBP is just league average and the wOBA is just OK. For reference, Lind's wOBA was .394, which is really good. When Hill's HR/FB rate corrects next year, those "just enough" fly balls won't be HRs, they'll be long doubles. That's not a bad thing at all. I'll take 45-50 doubles from him any day.

Expect the rest of his career to be more like this: about 20-25 HR, 45ish doubles, with poor OBP. Add to that some of the best defense from 2B in the majors. He was 4th in RZR (range) and tops in OOZ (out of zone plays) and DPs turned among ML 2Bs. Nothing wrong with that at all.

how about Jays fans stop blaming Cito for everything that's wrong with the Jays. Cito actually said he'd like to see Aaron take more walks recently and Hill said he wasn't gonna change his style at all.

[Modern_epic]

Absolutely fantastic comeback season. No one should take coming back from a concussion for granted.

That said, I don't see him repeating this ever again. His swing rates at balls in and out of the zone are well above league average--a result of Cito probably telling him to hack away. All but one of his HR were to left field and a lot of them were of the "just enough" variety (http://www.hittrackeronline.com/detail. ... ype=hitter) due to a huge and lucky jump in his HR/FB rate.

The more telling stats regarding Hill's future are his meh OBP and wOBA numbers: .330 and .354. That OBP is just league average and the wOBA is just OK. For reference, Lind's wOBA was .394, which is really good. When Hill's HR/FB rate corrects next year, those "just enough" fly balls won't be HRs, they'll be long doubles. That's not a bad thing at all. I'll take 45-50 doubles from him any day.

Expect the rest of his career to be more like this: about 20-25 HR, 45ish doubles, with poor OBP. Add to that some of the best defense from 2B in the majors. He was 4th in RZR (range) and tops in OOZ (out of zone plays) and DPs turned among ML 2Bs. Nothing wrong with that at all.

how about Jays fans stop blaming Cito for everything that's wrong with the Jays. Cito actually said he'd like to see Aaron take more walks recently and Hill said he wasn't gonna change his style at all.

First off, he's not blaming Cito, just explaining the change from Hill's traditional numbers. Ain't nobody trying to imply Hill is what is wrong with the Jays here.

But you are leaving out that Cito said that in the middle of this season, after preaching pretty much the exact opposite in his current tenure with the Jays before that point.

[evilRyu]

this is an amazing story, one of the few bright spots of the season

[Schad]

Absolutely fantastic comeback season. No one should take coming back from a concussion for granted.

That said, I don't see him repeating this ever again. His swing rates at balls in and out of the zone are well above league average--a result of Cito probably telling him to hack away. All but one of his HR were to left field and a lot of them were of the "just enough" variety (http://www.hittrackeronline.com/detail. ... ype=hitter) due to a huge and lucky jump in his HR/FB rate.

The more telling stats regarding Hill's future are his meh OBP and wOBA numbers: .330 and .354. That OBP is just league average and the wOBA is just OK. For reference, Lind's wOBA was .394, which is really good. When Hill's HR/FB rate corrects next year, those "just enough" fly balls won't be HRs, they'll be long doubles. That's not a bad thing at all. I'll take 45-50 doubles from him any day.

Expect the rest of his career to be more like this: about 20-25 HR, 45ish doubles, with poor OBP. Add to that some of the best defense from 2B in the majors. He was 4th in RZR (range) and tops in OOZ (out of zone plays) and DPs turned among ML 2Bs. Nothing wrong with that at all.

His walk rate perked up a bit in September to 8.8% (against a rate of 5.0% previous). Probably statistical noise, but there might be hope for a little improvement. Likely, he'll be a similar hitter to Wells (when Wells was good)...a bit inconsistent from month-to-month and year-to-year, which is absolutely fine from an excellent defensive 2B on a supremely reasonable contract.