Rich Hill was promoted to the major leagues from AAA Iowa in May and was absolutely horrible. He gave up 20 ER, 23 hits and 15 walks while striking out just 11. He was then promptly demoted and most Cubs fans expected him to join the long list of busted prospects that the Wrigley Faithful have come to know and love.

It appeared that Rich Hill had lost his command and his shot at making a major league rotation, something that had seemed very likely heading into spring training. After arriving back in Iowa he lost his first start back, giving up 10 hits and 6 earned runs in 5.2 innings of work.

And then an odd thing happend… he began to win ballgames. He went on to win his last six decisions which improved his season stats to an impressive 7-1 in 100 innings with 135 k’s, 21 walks, 5 HBP and a 1.80 ERA while yielding just 62 hits, 20 ER and just 3 HR. These stats were good enough to land him in the starting spot in the PCL All-Star game in which he pitched a pair of scoreless innings.

Fast forward to today and Rich Hill is starting the first game of a four game series against the Cardinals. Oh, and the game is going to be played at Wrigley Field, at night, and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. No pressure, Rich.

So what should Cubs fans expect?

Rich Hill is going to be a good pitcher someday. He throws a pair of curve balls, one of which acts as a change up to the other, and when he’s spotting his fastball he’s nearly impossible to hit. He has showed overpowering dominance in the minor leagues and it appears that his confidence is finally back.

I know what you’re thinking, “Well, what about earlier in the year when he laid a big egg and lost all four of his starts?” I’m not here to defend him, he’s obviously good enough to pitch in the bigs and his stuff is good enough that he can succeed.

Rich Hill’s problems in the majors were all between his ears. In the minors he struck out more than 100 more batters than he walked and in his short stint in the majors he struck out just 11 hitters while walking 15. What this says is that he was trying to hit spots too often and failed to make pitches when he needed to make them. Its also possible that he was feeling the pressure of a team that was mired in a horrible slump. It could have also been the jitters of a 26 year old trying to make it in the bigs and facing a pair of hot teams (The DBacks and Padres were in the midst of long winning streaks of six games or more) and a pair of feared lineups (Giants featuring Bonds looking for #715 and the defending champion White Sox).

For whatever reason he wasn’t able to get the job done in the past. This, however, should have no effect on how he pitches now. Rich Hill is a new man with more confidence and a better handle on his pitching ability. If Rich Hill can carry over his success from the minors he might just work his way into the Cubs rotation for 2007 and could be the next great Cubs youngster pitcher to wear Cubbie Blue. He might just follow in the footsteps of Carlos Zambrano and Greg Maddux. Its also possible that he stumbles and follows in the footsteps of Juan Cruz and Angel Guzman as busted pitching prospects.

Only time will tell how Rich performs, but don’t be surprised to see a different Rich Hill.