“I don’t want to say it was rock bottom for him, but it was pretty close,” Gardner said. “You could see every time he went out there, he was fighting himself. Everybody tried to help him get over the hump, but he just couldn’t do it.”

Gardner informed Hill the Washington Nationals would part ways with him. And yet, Hill’s trek through the baseball wilderness continued. He became a Long Island Duck, a foray into the independent leagues. He became a Pawtucket Red Sox, a September call-up, an incredible reclamation. Saturday night at Nationals Park, he will be a Los Angeles Dodger, the man assigned to start Game 2 of the National League Division Series, weather permitting.

AD

AD

Hill’s career is a survivor’s tale. He is a 36-year-old who, though he was drafted in 2002 and debuted in 2005, has appeared in just 221 big league games. He will be on the mound because he kept pitching after he wrecked his left shoulder, underwent Tommy John surgery and overcame back injuries. He will be there for no reason more essential than he decided, in the face of dim hope, he wanted to keep playing baseball.

“When my friends get to that point, guys that I’ve played with, they call me after they get released,” Nationals left fielder Jayson Werth said. “They’re kind of ho-humming, ‘I can’t get a job.’ I’m like, ‘Go play in independent ball. Because if you go home, the dream dies. The only way to keep this dream alive is to go play.’

“Those guys like Ruben Sierra, Rickey Henderson, Jose Canseco that kept playing until they were like 50 or whatever it was, I love it. Why quit? What else are you going to do? It’s not like you have any other life skills. It’s not like you could go be a carpenter or something. You’ve put your whole life into this. Why not keep going?”

Hill has pitched for 10 affiliated organizations since 2002, an odyssey that includes a brief stint with the Nationals last season. In 2014, he bounced around Class AAA teams, had a cup of coffee with the Los Angeles Angels and recorded 16 outs in 14 games for the New York Yankees as a lefty specialist.

AD

AD

At the start of 2015 spring training, the Nationals sought a final left-hander to complete their bullpen. They considered Hill an option. The spin rate on his curveball, and the ability of the pitch to make batters swing and miss, enticed them. Hill signed late, on Feb. 27, when camp had already started.

In conversations before the team broke camp, the Nationals discussed making Hill part of their 25-man roster. They chose Xavier Cedeno instead, but they believed Hill would be promoted eventually.

“We anticipated he would help us during the year,” Nationals assistant general manager Doug Harris said. “He just had a hard time repeating the strike zone. I think he would tell you his confidence was up and down. He just never could get anything rolling.”

At Syracuse, Hill displayed the devastating curveball the Nationals hoped for, striking out 32 of the 101 batters he faced across 21 2/3 innings while allowing only 12 hits. The flashes, though, were drowned out by bouts of wildness. Hill walked 21 batters, more than one of every five men he faced and almost one per inning.

AD

AD

“He was capable of getting major league hitters out in a bullpen role,” Gardner said. “He had weapons. For Rich at the time, it was, would he throw strikes? You were kind of going from outing to outing, not being able to trust whether he would be able to throw the ball over the plate.”

Typically, Gardner will see pitchers have a bad outing and rebound — a step back, then two steps forward. Hill’s poor outings begat worse performances. The Nationals believed his performance ebbed, his confidence spiraled and a vicious cycle repeated. Even still, teammates revered him.

“Great teammate, great guy,” said Nationals reliever Matt Grace, Hill’s Syracuse teammate. “He was kind of going through a little bit of a transition period where he was going into being a reliever — dropping down, changing his arm angle and stuff. So I think baseball-wise, it was a little tough for him. But I remember he was hilarious, awesome to be around. You could tell he was frustrated, but dealt with it in the best manner possible.”

“He seemed like a great dude,” starter A.J. Cole said. “I mean, he struggled a little bit, but he was also trying to figure a lot of stuff out.”

AD

AD

“He was a good dude,” reliever Rafael Martin said. “He was a clown. He just loosens up the clubhouse, big jokester kind of guy. He was up and down, had good games, bad games, control issues. I would never have thought he’d be a Game 2 guy for the Dodgers this year.”

Hill and Nationals officials had nothing but warm things to say about one another, but they cast his experience in different ways. Nationals officials and former teammates viewed Hill’s time in Syracuse as a struggle with control and confidence. Looking back, Hill feels he performed well, and a roster crunch prevented his ascension.

“I pitched well in Syracuse, and there just wasn’t any room here,” Hill said. “I pitched really well in spring training and it ended up being a numbers thing. That was really it, at the end of the day.”

On June 24, Gardner called Hill into his office. Hill said he exercised an out clause in his contract. Nationals officials gave the impression he would have been released if he did not.

AD

AD

“He kind of had that feeling of, all the pressure is off and he could breathe again,” Gardner said. “I think he even knew at the time he needed to go somewhere else and figure this out. I think in his own mind he wondered if he could ever get back.”

When Hill went home, he viewed his severance from affiliated ball as an opportunity. He wanted to return to starting; leaving the Nationals gave him time to build stamina. Hill knew major league teams would have no interest in a starter who hadn’t started since 2009, so he signed with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League to prove himself fit.

“I knew I was healthy,” Hill said. “If you’re left-handed and healthy in baseball, there will be opportunities as long as you continue to pursue them. I always wanted to get back into starting.”

He made two starts for the Ducks and in one struck out 15. The Boston Red Sox, well out of contention, signed him Aug. 14 to a major league contract. He had grown up in Milton, Mass., and had bounced around Boston’s organization before, so the Red Sox took a shot. He worked with Red Sox organizational pitching coach Brian Bannister, who explained how he could turn his curveball into a more varied pitch.

AD

AD

“We talked about changing the shape of the curveball,” Hill said. “When he mentioned ‘shape,’ it kind of opened up a lot of creativity.”

And then something amazing happened: Hill caught fire. Hill tore through Class AAA Pawtucket and earned a September call-up. In four starts with Boston, he pitched to a 1.55 ERA over 29 innings and fired a complete-game shutout. Overnight, he turned into a commodity.

The Nationals vetted Hill this winter, but with a full rotation and Hill positioned as a starter, they never showed interest. He signed a one-year contract with the Oakland A’s for $6 million — more than he had made in his first 14 professional seasons combined. At the deadline, he was sent to Los Angeles.

AD

“It kind of gives guys like us some hope,” Martin said. “You never know. You could wake up one day, start shoving and somebody offers you a good contract.”

AD

Hill looks back on his time with the Nationals as fortunate happenstance. It didn’t work out, but if it did, it would have circumvented his current success. He may never have become a starter, and he never would have been heading into this offseason, improbably, as one of the most coveted starting pitchers in free agency.

“Who knows?” Hill said. “If more things developed here, then I possibly wouldn’t be in this situation right now.”