Potential top 10 pick Hill tears UCL

Jaden Hill, the LSU righthanded pitcher who has been seen as a potential top 10 pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair a torn UCL, it was announced today.

Hill, listed at 6’4”, 235 lbs., was seen entering the season as a pitcher who could put himself in the mix at 1.1, due to his impressive build, mid- to upper-90s fastball, and three secondaries that are seen as potential plus pitches. In order to make that leap, however, he was going to have to show he could handle a starting pitchers workload — he made only two starts as a freshman due to injuries, and appeared in just four games, all in relief, in 2020 before the season was shut down due to COVID-19.

Hill struggled as a starter this year, however, putting up an ERA over 6 in his seven starts, and Baseball America had dropped him from 6 to 8 on their draft rankings before the injury.

Hill seems likely to still go relatively high in the 2021 draft, and would seem unlikely to return to LSU, particularly given it would probably be June, 2022, before he’s ready for game action again. A team that believes in the upside potential and thinks the regression in his stuff this year was due to his bad elbow could see him as a potential bargain, though he likely will still require first round money to sign.