Mt. Pleasant’s Hill Embarks on MLB Career

The dream of playing professional baseball is beginning to take shape for Mt. Pleasant native and recent University of Michigan graduate Evan Hill.

A 2012 Mt. Pleasant High School graduate and left-handed pitcher, Hill was selected by the Detroit Tigers with the 715th overall pick of the 2016 MLB Draft on Saturday.

On Monday, Hill was en route to Lakeland, Fla., where he’ll report to the Tigers’ spring training facility to negotiate a contract, conduct a physical and throw a bullpen session before being assigned to a minor league affiliate in the organization.

"It’s really nice just to be picked by the Tigers, because I have a bunch of extended family joking with me, you know, now they’re not going to have to change teams or go out and buy new gear in order to support me, which I thought was pretty funny,” Hill said.  

“They’ve got a few local minor league affiliate teams that are in the area, so that’ll be nice that my parents have the opportunity to come watch me play. I’m just going to take it one pitch at a time, take it one outing at a time. I’m going to just do what they want me to do, which was go to their minor league affiliate that they send me to, fill up the strike zone and just try to improve every day.”

Hill went 5-5 over 16 appearances for the Wolverines in 2016, sporting a 4.26 ERA with 62 strikeouts against 23 walks.

With a 19-16 career record and 3.73 ERA over four seasons, Hill ended his collegiate career ranking fifth all-time in innings pitched (272 1/3) and ninth all-time in career strikeouts (209).