With Versatile Hill, Angels Getting More for Their Money

It was a winter of celebrated free-agent signings, and Donnie Hill’s was one of them.

But his $500,000 contract was reason for the Angels to raise a toast, more so than his investment counselors.

In a sport in which bargains are rare, Hill is a bona fide one.

The only thing to watch is those incentives. Last season, his first with the Angels, Hill made $75,000 on incentives alone, increasing his $150,000 base salary by 50%.

Having Hill on a team is like having an inexpensive handyman at your beck and call.

Fill in at shortstop today, second base tomorrow--or in the seventh inning, if you please. He can play first base, or third. And in a pinch, he can pitch, right-handed--and probably left, if the occasion arose.

That’s the type of versatility that made Hill a commodity after last season, when Oakland--which once discarded him-- was among the teams courting him after he played excellent utility defense and hit .264 for the Angels last year.

But look what he’s showing this season.

Need somebody to score? Try sending Hill to the plate. He has scored once for every three times he has made that walk.

Just a part-time player who has appeared in 10 games, he has crossed the plate with a run a team-leading 12 times, including once in the Angels’ 9-5 victory over Seattle Wednesday.

Only four American League players had scored more runs than Hill before Wednesday, and they’re all either big names or regulars--Dave Henderson, Edgar Martinez, Cal Ripken and Devon White.

Hill is batting .414, and has struck out only three times in 29 at-bats. Against Seattle Wednesday, he went one for three with a sacrifice, a walk and a two-run triple.

“I don’t know, I just feel comfortable,” Hill said, smiling at his inability to explain things like hitting in the past six games he’s played in, and in all but one of 10. “Other than that, I don’t know.”

The triple, which drove in Dick Schofield and Luis Polonia and turned a three-run lead into a comfortable five-run margin, was not of the garden variety.

Hill lofted the ball toward Greg Briley in left, but as Briley tried to field it, it caromed sharply to the right, as if off his glove or foot.

Hill kept motoring, finally safe at third.

“When I first hit it, I thought, well, maybe. It seemed like he was closing in,” Hill said. “Then I saw the ball go down, and I tried to put it in another gear. Then I realized I didn’t have another gear.”

With a little hitch, Hill made it safely.

“Just a momentary lapse,” he said, smiling.

Hill took a turn starting at shortstop in Wednesday’s game, giving Schofield a rest, until Manager Doug Rader opted to use Schofield as a pinch-hitter for Jack Howell against a left-hander in the seventh inning. All Rader had to do was slide Hill over to second, where Hill continued another seamless performance in the field.

“I’m getting more and more used to it all the time,” said Hill, who played shortstop in college for Arizona State’s 1981 NCAA championship team.

He played more games at second base, 60, last season than at any other position. The moves take some adjustment. The sidearm toss from second over to first is a bit different from the long throw from short.

“Pregame, I just take some balls wherever I’m playing, and think about where they’re likely to hit it,” Hill said.

Meanwhile, the Angels can enjoy the prospect of thinking where Hill might hit it next, and how soon he will score again.