Dodgers fan favorite who refuses to retire just found a new minor-league landing spot

Rich Hill is a guy who never gives up, even if maybe he should. He turned 45 this year and made his MLB debut just a year after Jackson Chourio, the youngest player in MLB, was born (the two share a birthday, weirdly enough). Hill has appeared in the major leagues for 13 different teams since 2005, and minor league stints with the Cardinals and Nationals brought his organizational total to include half the league.

He's spent the longest amount of time with the Red Sox and has re-signed with them eight times in the last 20 years, but he was a Dodger for three seasons and some change, from August 2016 through the 2019 season.

They signed him to the longest contract of his career after he impressed in those last two months of the 2016 season and the postseason. Two of the most productive seasons of his career came in LA despite frequent injury; by the time he left, he threw 361 1/3 total innings for a 3.16 ERA.

On Tuesday, the Royals announced that they had signed him to a minor-league deal after a prolonged free agency, making them his 16th organization in 23 years.

Former Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill signs a minor league deal with Royals at age 45

Hill was drafted by the Cubs in 2002, has since spent almost equal amounts of time in the AL and NL, and has ventured into every division in baseball. The Red Sox re-signed him for the eighth time last year on a late-season minor league deal, and was called up for four relief appearances at the end of August, marking his 20th consecutive season pitching in the major leagues. He pitched just 3 2/3 innings for a 4.91 ERA and was DFA'ed by the Red Sox on Sept. 6 before being released altogether.

During the offseason, Hill still seemed adamant that he wasn't ready to walk away from the game, and Chris Cotillo of MassLive wrote just a few weeks ago that multiple teams were interested in his services.

It's hard to tell what the Royals think they're going to get out of Hill at this point. He certainly won't be called up (if he's called up) as a starter, and his relief appearances out of the Red Sox's and Padres' pens since mid-2023 have ranged from unremarkable to very bad.

Still, you sort of have to admire the persistence. If he still wants to pitch and there are teams that still want to sign him, then why not let him play?