Red Sox appoint Rich Hill for assignment

The Red Sox announced Friday that they have designated a left-handed player Rich hill for allocation. His place on the list will go to right-handed Luis Guerrerowhose contract was carried over from Triple-A Worcester.

Hill, 44, returned to the majors after sitting out the first two-thirds of the season. He had said early in the offseason that he planned to wait until the middle of the 2024 season before pursuing a return, using the downtime to be with his family and, ideally, be fresher for the end of the current campaign. Hill entered the 2023 season as a solid innings-eater at the back of the Pirates’ rotation but faded significantly after a trade to the Padres.

Last month, Hill showed up for major clubs, drawing a wide range of scouts. He said at the time that he felt ready to throw five innings and jump on a big mound right away. The grizzled left-hander signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox — incredibly, his eighth career free-agent deal with Boston — and had indeed risen to the majors after just one Triple-A appearance, in which he threw two shutout innings.

The Sox did not include Hill in the rotation, opting instead to use him in the bullpen. His first two outings could hardly have gone better. He threw 2 2/3 perfect innings, striking out three opponents. In his next two outings, Hill was tagged for a combined two runs on a home run and three walks. He struck out two more batters along the way. Overall, Hill threw just 3 2/3 innings in his final Red Sox run, posting a 4.91 ERA with five strikeouts and three walks.

Now that Hill has been designated, he’s headed to waivers. He wouldn’t be eligible for a new club’s playoff roster if claimed, though it’s at least somewhat feasible that a postseason prospect looking for some pitching depth could still make a low-risk pickup and slot him into one of the final spots on the staff. If not, Hill could head to Worcester to keep pitching in Triple-A or become a free agent again. It’s not entirely clear whether he plans to keep pitching, and with his 45th birthday coming up in March of next year, it’s fair to wonder how long he plans to keep going. Hill struck out at least a third of the batters he faced during this brief Red Sox run (five of 15), so there’s some reason to believe he might have something left in the tank.

Guerrero, 24, has had a nice season in Triple-A, logging a 3.31 pitching grade with a whopping 33.1% strikeout rate but also posting a bloated 13.4% walk rate through 54 1/3 innings. MLB.com ranks him 28th among Sox farmhands with a fastball that sits around 96-98 mph and occasionally tops 100 mph. He supplements that pitch with a splitter and slider. Guerrero throws hard and misses bats in droves, but like so many young flamethrowers, his effectiveness has sometimes been undermined by shaky command. Guerrero’s 13.4% walk rate this year is an exact match for his career walk rate at all minor league levels combined.