When rosters for the Cubs’ affiliates were announced, I was a little surprised that outfielder Darius Hill did not get assigned to South Bend. I thought that Hill was good enough to go to High A to begin the year. His ability to play all three outfield spots and can get on base anyway possible would be advantageous at that level. Instead, Hill was assigned to Low A Myrtle Beach.
Sometimes, things work out the way they’re supposed to.
When I first profiled Hill back in 2019, I explained how I was a big fan of how he played the game. He’s not going to be an elite prospect who hits 20 home runs or is 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds of solid muscle, he’s just a guy who can hit and run and do exciting things at the plate and in the field as well as the basepaths.
All Darius Hill has done in 2021 is to prove everybody else wrong about his assignment.
Hill destroyed Low A pitching in his tenure with the Pelicans. In just seven games, he hit .375 at the top of the order and was the spark plug for the offense. That kind of performance will get you noticed. At the time, I thought if he keeps this up, he’ll be in South Bend in no time.
That didn’t happen either. It seems to be a theme here.
Instead, Hill was moved to AA Tennessee where he has continued his all-world season in dramatic fashion. What he is doing is not surprising to me. He is putting the bat on the ball along with not walking much or striking out much. He’s playing very good defense in the outfield. Again, not surprising.
Instead, what is surprising is that Hill is just killing it….at AA!!!!
Hill played 15 games for Tennessee in May. He hit .319 and he led the team in hits, despite playing in Myrtle Beach the second week. He was second in runs with 12 and fourth in RBI with 11. He did surprise me as he cranked 1 HR and he also finished second in OBP behind Miguel Amaya’s .418.
Between the two affiliates in May, Hill hit .337 with 16 RBI, 14 runs, and a wRC+ of 135 at Myrtle and 116 at AA.
That leads us to our titular question: is Darius Hill for real?
I think you only need to look at Saturday night’s game in Chattanooga to answer that question. Hill faced off against one of the top prospects in all of baseball in the Reds’ Hunter Greene, who was assigned to AA Chattanooga. Greene can bring it in at 100 miles an hour and Hill went two-for-three against him like it was no big deal. He took a 100 mph fastball for a hit, twice. The first single was a liner and the second was a grounder up the middle. See below.
At this stage, Darius Hill has to be extremely confident in his abilities. Now that he’s shown he can do it at AA in May, that should hopefully carry over to him doing well in June. If Hill is still performing at this level at the end of the month, he is probably not going to be in Tennessee on July 1. He should be in Iowa.
On Tuesday this week, I sat down to watch the debuts of Chase Strumpf and Brennen Davis at Tennessee. Yet, there I was mesmerized at the sight of Hill causing havoc each and every at-bat. He simply puts the bat on the ball and makes things happen. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hit, a grounder, or a nubber, he’s out there hustling forcing someone to make a play to get him out.
What’s strange about this whole scenario in the performance of Hill is not that he’s been able to hit, get on base, or paly good defense, it is that he’s done it at such at AA already. There has not really been any hitter like this that is flying through the Cubs system. We’ve seen pitchers Dillon Maples and Jack Patterson go through 3 levels in a year but we really haven’t seen it from the hitting side in the last 10 years.
I’m interested to see him make the Cubs make it happen.
Cubs Central 
Any feedback on his defense? He doesn’t have much power but CF capable defense, contact, and skills like baserunning and not being a dbag could get him a ML job one day
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I think it’s defense is OK, it’s not outstanding, but it’s very capable And his ability to go get a ball is pretty good. The arm might be the only issue that would keep him out of right field. Otherwise he’d be fine and center or left
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Hmmm…I’m rooting for him. I noted when drafted he was a productive 3 year starter with a 10% K rate as a LHH. Definitely enjoying that he has continued to be a good pro post-NCAA
Thanks as usual for piling up the content, there’s plenty to write and you do it, it may inspire me to do the same
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Thank you, Jeff!
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Thank you Todd. I am interested to see if teams catch up to him, as he is somewhat an unknown right now. I also want to see through a larger sample whether he takes walks…he appears to be a swing early hitter.
With all that said, it does appear he is a real prospect. I am tempted to say he has a lower ceiling but he keeps hitting over .300 as he moves up – it is possible that my view is based solely on analysis of loud tools and draft level and not baseball performance. Further none of the top hitting prospects at AA appear near ready (with Strumpf TBD)…I think Hill might be the closest to MLB of any prospect (excluding the journeyman from Iowa).
Do you agree with this? If so, query whether the Cubs would agree to move him up if he is performing — they have been using Iowa exclusively for rotational journeyman hitters and I wonder if they will mix in prospects (especially if there is only one who would be at that level).
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He’s probably not going to walk much. He will walk some, but probably not a double digit percentage. As far as Iowa, the biggest issue with moving up is the prospect has to go through some COVID protocols in case they get called up. That could change in the second half. But I am still high on him and reserved – his ability to hit the ball and make things happen is an undervalued skill today. A month from now will tell a lot! Thanks for the comment, Bill!
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Todd, like the way Hill can work the count and does have solid contact when he hits. Like his hustle. First quarter of the year has been very solid, lets see it carry all year.
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[…] Darius Hill – Update […]
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[…] who will do anything to get on base and he plays all out all the time. Who doesn’t love that? Hill’s profile from the spring highlighted his breakout season at Myrtle Beach and then at Tennessee. He didn’t even make a stop […]
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