Hill getting chance to be Nats' everyday center fielder

The Nationals made an interesting choice when placing Victor Robles back on the 10-day injured list with back spasms in the lumbar spine.

They could have recalled Alex Call, who was originally optioned down to Triple-A Rochester when Robles was activated Friday, even though it was within 10 days because he would have been replacing an injured player.

But they chose to select the contract of Derek Hill instead.

This is a developmental and evaluation year. The Nats have already seen 64 games of Call, who only hit .209 in the majors. Now it’s time to see what Hill has to offer. Plus, had he not strained his right hamstring in the beginning of March, Hill might have made the Opening Day roster out of spring training instead of Call or Stone Garrett.

“It feels great,” Hill said of being back in a major league clubhouse. “Obviously, this is the dream to play in the big leagues even if you've been here before. I'm just excited to come up here and do whatever I can to help the team.”

What he’s going to try to do to help the team is hit. With Robles’ injury and Call’s struggles, the Nationals have received little offense from the center field position over the last month and a half.

Hill hit .320 with 11 doubles, two triples, eight home runs, 31 RBIs, 18 walks, 11 stolen bases and 40 runs scored in 52 games between a rehab assignment with High-A Wilmington and Rochester. At the time of his promotion to the majors, he was leading the Nationals system in batting average and ranked in the top six in other major offensive categories.

“It's always plate approach for me,” he said of his success in the minors. “They gave me a great plan and just stuck with it and good things happened. So hopefully we can continue to do that and keep it rolling.”

The 27-year-old had a really strong stretch from mid-May to early-June. Over a 19-game hitting streak, he went 31-for-78 (.397) with seven doubles, two triples, four homers, 18 RBIs, 11 walks and 20 runs scored during the longest active streak in Minor League Baseball at the time.

“Honestly, just everybody down there was helping me a lot,” he said, “the hitting coach, analytic guys, manager, everybody was putting in the right position to succeed and I can't thank them enough.”

In the field, Hill played 45 games in center, where he’ll now play almost every day for the Nats.

“Honestly, I like all three of them,” he said. “So it doesn't matter to me. I just want to get in a lineup and create a little havoc.”

“He's gonna play every day he's here,” Davey Martinez said. “Like I said, he's been swinging the bat really well and yesterday he swung the bat really well. He's an exciting player, we know that. Like I said, I saw him in spring training. I saw him before we got him, some videos when he was in Detroit. He could do some special things. So I want to give him an opportunity to go out there and play and see what he can do. And then we'll see when Victor gets ready to go again, we'll see where we're at.”

Hill does have some major league experience already. A 2014 first-round pick by the Tigers, he appeared in 95 games across three seasons (2020-22) with Detroit, hitting .240 with five doubles, three triples, four home runs, 17 RBIs, 16 walks, nine stolen bases and 30 runs scored.

“He's got speed, he can run, he plays good defense,” Martinez said. “He's a good, smart baseball player. He'll move the baseball. He's put some good, decent numbers up when he was with Detroit. He can hit lefties really well as well.”

Hill is off to a solid start with the Nationals. He beat out a grounder to short for an infield single in his first at-bat and had two hard-contact outs in his other two on Wednesday. He did make a fielding error that cost the Nats a run in the top of the first Thursday, but he also collected another hit.

“Whatever the team wants me to do, I'll be ready to do either way,” Hill said. “Whether it's pinch-running, defense, starting and it doesn't matter to me, whatever I can do to help the team.”