Dasan Hill was on a bus in Iowa when he found out the Blue Jays had traded for him.
He didn't even need to check his phone to know what the call meant.
Toronto acquired the 20-year-old left-hander as part of the Jeff Hoffman deal at the deadline, and he came with real hype attached.
At six-foot-five and 165 pounds, his fastball tops out at 100 mph. That wasn't always the case.
"Going into high school, I was only about five-foot-six and 100 pounds before I hit a growth spurt between my sophomore and junior seasons," Hill told the Star.
"I had to develop my off-speed pitches and learn how to set up hitters."
He started this season with Cedar Rapids, going 1-8 with a 5.37 ERA, though a couple of rough April outings inflated that number. He struck out 77 in just 45 innings there, with 32 walks.
Why the Blue Jays want him fully in love with his heater
Justin Lehr, Toronto's director of minor-league pitching, came away impressed after watching Hill throw a bullpen session in Vancouver.
"I think Dasan has a really elite mind for pitching, let alone the physical talent," Lehr said. "He wants to throw nasty pitches, and doesn't like guys putting the balls in play."
Injuries have been an odd theme this year, though. A bleeding hangnail forced him from a late May start, and a paper cut during the all-star break cost him another.
"I had to pitch with super glue on the finger in my next start, and I couldn't grip anything," Hill said.
Since the trade, Toronto has pushed him to lean harder on his fastball. "I want him to be in love with the fastball," Lehr said. "We want him to rebuild his confidence in that pitch."
His changeup has become a real weapon too, holding left-handed hitters to a .200 average against him this season.
In four starts with Vancouver, totaling 13.1 innings as Toronto monitors his workload, Hill has struck out 17 while walking six.
He threw four shutout innings in his Nat Bailey Stadium debut, then followed with one unearned run allowed, six strikeouts, and one walk in his most recent outing.
"I'm really excited to see what the Blue Jays have for me," Hill said in a video posted to his YouTube channel. "They're letting me know my fastball is a true weapon, not just a get-me-over pitch."
Drafted 69th overall in 2024, Hill now ranks as Toronto's eighth-best prospect according to MLB Pipeline, with an estimated big-league debut in 2028.
"Playing for a Canadian big-league team one day would be amazing and an honour," he said.
Do you think Dasan Hill becomes a real building block for the Blue Jays' future rotation?
Also read on Blue Jays Insider :
Blue Jays expected to land Astros 4-time all-star this off-season
