Joshua James Hill (born 27 March 1983 in

Armadale, Western Australia Armadale is a suburb of Perth within the City of Armadale, located on the south-eastern edge of the Perth metropolitan region. The major junction of the South Western and Albany Highways, which connect Perth with the South West and Great South ...

) is an Australian professional baseball

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Professional career

Minnesota Twins

Hill was signed to the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

organisation in 2000 and debuted with the Gulf Coast League Twins in 2001, going 2–2 with a 3.63 ERA in his first season. In the

2002 International Baseball League of Australia season The 2001-02 International Baseball League of Australia was played exclusively at the Melbourne Ballpark. The championship reverted to its 1999-2000 format using 6 state teams, however New South Wales Country was replaced by an Australian Provinc ...

, he went 1–0 including a save, pitching six scoreless innings for the New South Wales Patriots. He split the minor league season between the

Quad City River Bandits Quad as a word or prefix usually means 'four'. It may refer to: Government * Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States * Quadrilateral group, an informal group which inc ...

Elizabethton Twins The Elizabethton Twins were a Minor League Baseball team of the Appalachian League and a Rookie-level affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They were located in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and were named for their major league affiliate. The team playe ...

GCL Twins. In the

2003 Claxton Shield The Claxton Shield is an annual competition held by the Australian Baseball Federation. The 2003 Shield reverted to its original form for the first time since 1988, due to the folding of the International Baseball League of Australia. The Shield ...

, Hill pitched another four scoreless innings for New South Wales, while allowing only one hit. Hill had right shoulder surgery in '03 and did not play in 2004. Hill was included in Australia national baseball team for the

2006 World Baseball Classic The 2006 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was the inaugural tournament between national baseball teams that included players from Major League Baseball. It was held from March 3 to 20 in stadiums that are in and around Tokyo, Japan; San Juan, Puerto ...

, replacing the injured

Ryan Rowland-Smith Ryan Benjamin Rowland-Smith (born 26 January 1983) is an Australian former professional baseball pitcher. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks. Rowland-Smith also represented Aust ...

. He pitched one game, coming in for

Damian Moss Damian Joseph Moss (born 24 November 1976) is a retired Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. Career After making his Major League debut on 26 April, , with the Atlanta Braves, Moss would also spend the season in Atlanta, where he placed ...

. In 2006, he was 6–6 with a 4.88 ERA for Fort Myers Miracle. In 2007, he was promoted to the New Britain Rock Cats, and in the

2007 Baseball World Cup The 2007 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 37th international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through the ...

, he pitched four games for Australia.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Hill was selected by the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in the Rule 5 Draft that off-season. He was assigned to the Altoona Curve and pitched 4–11 with a 4.53 ERA in 2008.Baseball Cube – Joshua Hill
He was on Australia's roster for the

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international baseball competition. It began on 5 9 and finished 5 26. Unlike in 2006, when the round-robin format of the first two rounds led to some eliminations being decided by run-difference ti ...

but did not play.

References

External links

1983 births Living people Altoona Curve players Australian expatriate baseball players in the United States Baseball pitchers Baseball people from Western Australia Beloit Snappers players Elizabethton Twins players Fort Myers Miracle players Gulf Coast Twins players New Britain Rock Cats players Sportspeople from Perth, Western Australia Quad Cities River Bandits players 2006 World Baseball Classic players 2009 World Baseball Classic players Sportsmen from Western Australia {{Australia-baseball-bio-stub