Rockies Prospect Profile: Flamethrower Jaden Hill

One of the Rockies' more underrated prospects, right-handed pitcher Jaden Hill earned an invite to Spring Training in 2024 and showed flashes of what he could be in the future, a truly lights-out back-end reliever for the Rockies in the near future. While his Spring Training statistics were nothing to write home about, he did strikeout eight hitters in the five innings he threw. Hill features a blistering upper 90's fastball, an above average slider and a wicked changeup that impressed the organization, earning him an assignment to Double-A Hartford to begin 2024.

The 24-year-old from Ashdown, Arkansas was thought to be a top three round prospect after high school, but he instead decided to play his college ball at LSU, where he underwent surgery on his collarbone which ended his freshman year, and the next year had his sophomore season postponed due to COVID. When he was able to pitch, Hill was nearly untouchable, especially after he was moved to the bullpen to begin 2020. Hill struggled in 2021, he went 2-3 with a 6.67 ERA, he did collect 25 strikeouts, but he was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery in April of 2021. Despite only throwing 51 innings in his college career, the Rockies, in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft, made Hill their selection, taking on a risk with high reward type of player.

Hill only threw 17 innings in 2022, as the Rockies did not want to push him after coming off two surgeries in three years, and 2023 was a struggle to say the least for the righty when he was starting games at High-A Spokane. Hill had an abysmal 9.48 ERA, surrendering 25 walks and 11 homers in only 43.2 innings, and while the stats don't tell the whole story, they certainly give you an idea of how his season went.

That fall, Hill was back to his old self in the Arizona Fall League and carried that into Spring Training 2024 where he showed some of the best stuff the organization has seen in a while. Hill has been impressive at Double-A Hartford in 2024, striking 13 batters in only nine innings. When Hill puts it all together, it will be a sight to behold, and he is trending in the right direction and will hopefully make the club in 2025 if not the end of 2024 when rosters expand.

Hill was a big risk for the Rockies to take in the second round after a college career that was disrupted several times, but he is showing that it will soon be worth the risk, and though he is only the Rockies 26th ranked prospect (according to MLB Pipeline), if he continues on the pace he is at in 2024 he will be much higher on that list come 2025.

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