The New York Yankees re-signed left-hander Tim Hill on Sunday, bringing the sidearm reliever back for a fourth season on a $2.25 million contract, according to ESPN‘s Jeff Passan.
Hill returns after a 2026 that unraveled in the summer and ended with him off the playoff roster, which raises an obvious question about what the Yankees see in him.
The one-year agreement includes a $2.5 million club option for 2028, according to MLB Trade Rumors. Hill earned about $3 million this past season after the Yankees exercised his $3 million club option.
Hill had drawn interest from several other clubs before agreeing to terms, including the Dodgers, Guardians, Mets and Giants, according to MLB insider Jon Heyman. The Yankees list the bullpen among their top offseason priorities, Passan reported.
Yankees Reliever Tim Hill’s Career and Injury History
Born Feb. 10, 1990, in Mission Hills, California, Hill is a 6-foot-4 left-hander who throws from the side and made his MLB debut on March 29, 2018, for the Kansas City Royals.
The Royals had taken him in the 32nd round of the 2014 draft, 963rd overall, out of Bacone College. He pitched for the Royals through 2019, the San Diego Padres from 2020 through 2023 and the Chicago White Sox in 2024 before landing in the Bronx.
Hill owns a 29-20 record and 3.94 ERA across 519 relief appearances, with 301 strikeouts in 448 innings. His sinker often accounts for more than 80 percent of his pitches, an offering built for ground balls rather than swings and misses.
Hill missed all of 2015 after being diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer during spring training. Surgeons removed half of his colon, eight months of chemotherapy followed, and a doctor cleared him in January 2016.
He has Lynch syndrome, an inherited condition that raises cancer risk, and lost his father to colon cancer when he was 17.
Hill landed on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation in 2022, then sprained his left ring finger in 2023, a problem that sent him to the IL more than once and ended in season-ending surgery to clean out scar tissue. He has stayed on the mound since, appearing in 70 games in 2025 and 67 in 2026.
Tim Hill’s Role in the Yankees Bullpen
New York signed Hill June 20, 2024, days after the White Sox released him with a 5.87 ERA in 23 innings. He went 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA over 44 innings in 35 games for the Yankees, then allowed one earned run in 8 1/3 postseason innings across 10 appearances.
Hill made a team-high 70 appearances in 2025, going 4-4 with a 3.09 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 67 innings. He also won the Tony Conigliaro Award, the Boston Red Sox honor for overcoming adversity, becoming the first active Yankees player to earn it.
Last season, Hill carried a 1.37 ERA into late May, then posted roughly a 6.23 ERA the rest of the way. He finished 5-2 with a 4.60 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 58.2 innings, allowing 12 home runs even as his ground-ball rate stayed near 68 percent.
Left-handed hitters managed only a .213/.265/.346 slash line against him, while righties hit .293/.365/.543. Across three seasons in New York, Hill is 12-6 with a 3.34 ERA in 172 appearances and about 170 innings.
That profile makes him a durable, inexpensive middle reliever and left-handed specialist who gives the bullpen a change of pace. His limitations are known, with a strikeout rate around 10.4 percent, heavy reliance on one pitch and a drop against right-handed hitters.
Which Hill shows up in 2027, the one from the first two months of last season or the one that followed, will decide whether the Yankees eventually choose to exercise that 2028 option.
Yankees Make Sudden Tim Hill Decision Amid Dodgers, Mets Interest