Hill's first career slam latest step in long journey

MIAMI – Derek Hill was a first-round selection in the 2014 MLB Draft. He has played 861 games in professional baseball across 11 seasons, but just 132 of those have come at the big league level. He has experienced countless injuries and designations for assignment.

If there’s one thing Hill has learned throughout his journey is patience. Once the Marlins claimed him from the Giants on Saturday, he was eager to begin the next phase of his career. Mother Nature had other plans. Hill and his wife woke up at 5:30 a.m. PT on Sunday but didn’t fly out of San Francisco until 2:30 p.m. because of Tropical Storm Debby.

“What else am I going to do?” Hill asked. “I'm good at baseball, and God sent me on this plan, so I might as well fulfill it and do it to my best capabilities.”

After spending most of Monday introducing himself to his new teammates and coaches, Hill struck out in a pinch-hit at-bat. He bounced back with a two-run single on Tuesday, then outdid himself with his first career grand slam in Wednesday night’s 6-4 Marlins victory over the Reds at loanDepot park.

“[Manager] Skip [Schumaker] was straightforward,” Hill said. “He's like, ‘You're going to go out there, we're going to give you opportunity, and if you go out there and succeed, we're going to continue to keep giving you more opportunity.’ So that's kind of where my headspace is, just to go out there and help the team win in any facet -- whether it's getting hits, scoring runs, defensive plays, it doesn't matter to me. Whatever I can do to be a good teammate.”

Miami struck first with a five-run first inning powered by two homers against lefty Andrew Abbott. With one out, Jake Burger tattooed a first-pitch fastball over the right-center-field wall for a solo homer.

Jonah Bride singled and Jesús Sánchez and Otto Lopez walked to load the bases for Hill. Following a mound visit, he deposited a four-seamer to straightaway center for his fourth homer of the season and eighth of his career.

With a southpaw starter on the mound, Schumaker elected to start Hill rather than left-handed-hitting newcomer Kyle Stowers, who has been struggling (2-for-24 with 13 strikeouts) since joining the Marlins via the Trevor Rogers trade. Hill entered Wednesday with a slash line of .304/.333/.474 in 141 career plate appearances vs. lefties.

The 28-year-old Hill, who is with his third Major League club in 2024, also pitched in on defense. He robbed Tyler Stephenson of a potential run-scoring hit to left field to end the fifth, helping right-hander Valente Bellozo go a career-high 5 2/3 scoreless innings.

“This is what it's all about, it’s, ‘Are you ready for your opportunity?’” Schumaker said. “There's going to be guys we said earlier that are going to get their first shot of playing a lot at this level, and Hill is one of them. He was a first-rounder years ago. He's a journeyman, but he hits the ball as hard as anybody. If he can cut down on his strikeouts a little bit and hit the ball as hard as he's hitting it, he's going to be OK up here.

“And he can play a really good outfield, made a good play tonight. It's hard to hit opposite-field home runs here, so it shows you what kind of pop he has. I really like -- not just because he hit the home run -- but I like how he is in the dugout, I like how he is in the clubhouse, the work, the personality, all of that works. But I obviously like home runs, so that obviously plays.”

Burger added another solo shot against Abbott in the fifth to extend the lead to 6-0, which proved crucial as TJ Friedl knocked a grand slam in seventh. The Reds then loaded the bases in the ninth only to see righty Calvin Faucher work out of his self-inflicted jam for the save.

It marked Burger’s fifth career multihomer game, and first since April 4 in his St. Louis homecoming. He has gone deep nine times in just 19 second-half games, one shy of his total from 73 games prior to the All-Star break.

“That was sick,” Burger said of Hill’s big blow. “It was awesome to see that go out, and we're happy for him. Really good dude. He's fitting into this clubhouse right away from Day 1, introducing himself to everybody. Really, really happy for him, and hopefully he keeps that going.”