So Jaden Hill Needed Tommy John, Now What?

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Back in the beginning of April, when Jaden Hill was going toe to toe with one of Vanderbilt's aces Jack Leiter, he was pulled from the game after only throwing 1.1 innings with discomfort. Come to find out, he had a partially torn UCL and needed Tommy John surgery, which takes almost a year and a half recovery. Prior to this injury he was projected to go #6 in the 2021 MLB Draft. Now? Not even in the first round. My prediction is he goes in the 2nd round. Why would I think that a team would take a pitcher who isn't even healthy? Because by the time MiLB season starts, he will only be out for about 6 more months. Taking a guy like Jaden Hill in the 2nd round and going without him for only 6 months seems completely worth it and I would do it as a big league GM. I would argue taking him in the 1st round, but maybe that's just my bias coming out. 

Can you also attribute his falling out of the 1st round to his poor season this year? Absolutely not. This is his 3rd season with the LSU Tigers after getting drafted in the 38th round by the St. Louis Cardinals. In 2019, he started 2 games combining for 10 innings and a 1.80 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP. In the shortened 2020 season, he was the closer making 4 appearances without giving up a single earned run. He pitched 11.2 innings and only gave up a single hit and walking 5. If you're not good at math, that works out to a 0.51 WHIP and a .028 opponent batting average. Oh, and he struck out 17 for a 13.12 K/9 and 3.4 K/BB. 

So what happened this year? Injuries. "But Dayne, he didn't go on the injured list until April." Well yeah, sometimes you don't realize injuries until it's too late. Are you telling me a guy with a college career ERA of 0.83 is now pitching a 6.67 ERA because he just sucks? No possible way. The guy is possibly the 3rd best starting pitcher in college behind Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter, if healthy. He has what most experts believe is the nastiest changeup in college baseball and mixing that with a fastball touching the mid 90s, he has opposing batters quivering. Hill allowed 29 hits, but only 9 of those were extra base hits. Batters are not making hard contact off his pitches. What we have seen out of Jaden Hill this season is not Jaden Hill. The bottom line is he is still one of the best pitchers in this year's MLB Draft and I would be ecstatic if my team picked him up and in a few short years, he is starting every 5 days. 

Dayne is a senior psychology major at Louisiana State University. He is originally from New Orleans and attended high school at Holy Cross. Other teams he likes are the Red Sox, Saints, Patriots, Bruins, Pelicans, and Celtics. He also has a career .500 batting average.

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