2002 Donruss Rookies, Jeremy Hill

#57 Jeremy Hill

Here is another card that was given to me by Paul, of Paul's Random Stuff. Paul has sent me at least twenty autographed cards, but this one is different from all of the rest. This is the only card that he has sent me of a player whose autograph I already had. I didn't get the autograph in Kansas City; I had to drive a little further for it. But, that is a story for another time (like when I get to the 2003 cards).

Jeremy only pitched in the Majors for parts of two seasons (2002-2003). He pitched in 11 games and has a career ERA of 3.48 with 8 strikeouts and 8 walks in 10.1 innings. The Royals traded him to the Mets at the deadline in 2003 and he hasn't been able to claw his way back up to the Majors yet.

I'm guessing that Paul got this card signed in 2006 while Jeremy was pitching for the Newark Bears. Jeremy then missed all of 2007 and pitched in Mexico in 2008. Last year, he was able to latch on with the Angels system and he is currently pitching for their AAA team in Salt Lake City. It would be great to see him called up at some point this year just because of the fact that not too many people who pitch in independent leagues and Mexico can climb their way back to the Majors.

I just learned from The Baseball Cube that Jeremy was originally drafted as a catcher. After hitting under .200 in his fifth season in the minors, he switched over to pitching in 2001 and made his Major League debut a year later.