Countdown to "The Return"

H'ville, Tn (AP) - The Mayan's have their countdown to the end of the world and now the BSA his it's countdown to the return of the greatest pitcher to ever take the mound in BSA's history, Scott "The Franchise" Hill.

Last year on May 11th Hill signed a 10-yr, $175M contract that included a shocking No-Trade clause guaranteeing that Hill would be a Hitman for life.   The deal is the longest and richest contract in BSA history.

Hill was dominating the league once again and was on pace to win his 4th straight Cy Young when on the last day of August, Hays' #1 fear became a reality.  In the 6th inning vs El Paso Diablos, Hill threw a splitter in the dirt to strikeout DH Jin-yu Son and as soon as he released the ball he felt the dreaded pop.  Hill knew it right away as he walked straight to the dugout holding his elbow with only 2 outs in the inning.

"The Franchise"

"I heard it.  There was a loud 'pop' and I knew my season was over," Hill told the media gathered in the District 9 Prawns press room.  "I've never been injured like that before so it was new to me, but I knew I would work harder than anyone to come back and be even better than before.  Mr. Hays and the Hitmen organization has put a lot of faith into me with that contract extension and I'm not going to let them down."

The official injury was announced 2 days later, diagnosed with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament, will need Tommy John Surgery and miss 10 months.  It was a long and hard 10 months but last night "The Franchise" made is 1st career minor league start and the 1st step back to bigs.

Hill took the mound vs oddly enough, El Paso's AAA team the Houston Hammertime and pitched like he never left.  He shutout the Hammertimes in 5.1 IP allowing 1 H, 0 ER, 7 K's and 1 BB.   The lone hit came from the 2nd batter of the game and then Hill retired the next 15 batters and was lifted after his only walk which game off of a bad call that should have been a strikeout looking.

Hill faced 18 batters, K'd 7 got 5 ground outs and 4 fly outs.  He was on a loose 60 pitch count and finished with 68 after the 9 pitch AB walk to his last batter.

Hays and the front office are being careful with Hill and have put him on a low pitch count and he's on a 6-man rotation to give him an extra day to get his legs back under him.  Hill's next start is schedule for June 24th vs Vista's AAA team the Santa Monica Bruins.  The Bruins are currently in 1st place of the PCL South division.