John From Albany - Catching up with Ex-Met Minor Leaguer Chris Hilliard

RHP Chris Hilliard was drafted by the Mets in the 38th round of the 2008 MLB June Amateur Draft from Itawamba Community College (Fulton, MS).

He pitched for 4 years for the Mets including the 2011 Brooklyn Cyclones team that went to the New York Penn League Championship only to lose to the Albany NY Area Tri-City Valley Cats.  Mack had Chris as one of his "Keepers" back then but a shoulder injury cut his career short. 

We caught up with Chris to see how he is doing today.  

Mack's Mets: What have you been up to lately?

 

Chris: Just working back in my hometown in Mississippi trying to stay safe from COVID-19. 

Mack's Mets: COVID is recking havoc in baseball now.  How are you handling the pandemic? Is everyone in your family healthy and safe? 

Chris: I’m trying to stay as safe as possible by wearing my mask and washing my hands as much as possible especially everyday at work.

Mack's Mets (Reese Kaplan): Given the recent positive tests, would you play on some team's 30-man taxi squad or opt to sit out?

Chris: I would have opted out more than likely because I have family members who are high risk for COVID. 

Mack's Mets: Are you still involved in the game in any way?

Chris: I do private pitching lessons and I have coached some travel and showcase ball.

Mack's Mets: What are your plans for the future? 

Chris: My plans for the future are to try and get back in affiliated ball as a pitching coach or a scout.

Mack's Mets: What do you think of Daniel Bard, gone from the game for 7 years, coming back and now pitching in the majors?

Chris: That’s a great story I’m really happy for him because that’s something all ball players would love to be able to do...I hope he has a great season 

Mack's Mets: As Left-Handed pitchers are always in demand, have you thought about trying to make a comeback? 

Chris: At one time I had thought about it but I don't know if my shoulder would be able to hold up for that to happen. 

Mack's Mets: What do you think about the new MLB rule of requiring a pitcher to throw to a minimum of three batters?  Do you think this will have a negative impact on lefty pitchers?

Chris: I think it’s a great rule and it will help the lefties learn to pitch to righties instead of just coming in to get 1 lefty out.

Mack's Mets: We hear a lot about how tough it is to be a minor league player, if you ran a major league franchise, what would you do differently in the minor leagues?

Chris: Being a minor league baseball player is a grind because you are on long bus trips from time to time staying in different hotels every 4-5 days.  You don’t get many days off. It just depends on what league you are playing in.  I would raise the pay for minor leaguers if that was something that I could change because no one knows how many long hours you put in unless you have done it before.

Mack's Mets: What are your thoughts on the proposed contraction of 40 minor league teams? 

Chris: I think it’s a sad situation because some of those small towns are losing teams that are a big part of their towns plus that gives the people something to do...I wish there was a way that they could keep all of the teams because a lot of deserving players are gonna lose their jobs in affiliated ball.

Mack's Mets: You went to Itawamba C. C. in Fulton, Mississippi one of the top ranked Community Colleges in the county, what is about their program that has made it so successful?

Chris: Just the family atmosphere it was only like 40 or so minutes from my hometown. ICC has a great sports tradition so you know when you get a chance to play there that you are gonna have to work hard and you want to be on a successful team.  There have been over 20 something draft picks from the school and I'm honored to be one of those guys.

Mack's Mets: How did you benefit the most from their program?

Chris: Just going in there with a goal of getting drafted I knew that I had to get stronger and try to get better everyday plus it was great being able to play with guys that I grew up playing against.  I told my coaches what my goal was and they did everything they could to help me reach my goal.  I'm so thankful for them because I had two great coaches pushing me everyday (Head Coach Rick Collier and Assistant Coach Alex Williamson).

Mack's Mets: You were drafted by the Mets in the 38^th round.  What did you think of MLB cutting the draft to 5 rounds this year? 

Chris: I felt bad for all the guys who had chances to get drafted but didn’t because I know all the hard work you have to put in to make that happen...hopefully the draft will go back to 40 or so rounds eventually so that gives more guys the opportunity.

Mack's Mets: What do you think will be the biggest impact of the reduced draft?

Chris: It’s gonna hurt a lot of the guys who aren’t the big name guys...someone from a smaller school it just hurts their chances even more than before. 

Mack's Mets: In 2010, you were part of the Brooklyn team that went to the NYPL Championship series under Wally Backman.  You pitched an 8 inning scoreless gem giving up just 2 hits against Vermont down the stretch that season.  Anything you can tell us about that year?

Chris: That was my favorite year I ever had playing baseball in my life.  We had a great season but came up short in the championship series.  We were loaded.  Our team had everything but it just didn’t work out for us.  I loved my teammates and would go to war with those guys again if I could.

Mack's Mets: You pitched the series winner 6-4 (Box Score) over Jamestown that featured Marcell Ozuna in the first round of the playoffs that year.  What was that like?

Chris: That was an awesome experience pitching in a professional ball playoff series.  The one thing I remember about that game was that it was a cold night.  It took me a little while longer to get my arm loose but pitching in that game was something you dream of.  Jamestown had a great lineup it wasn’t just Ozuna they could all swing it.  That was the most pitches I think I threw in a game all season. Wally told me he was gonna stick with me as long as I could go I gave up 4 runs in my 6 innings of work but my bullpen came in for me and shut the door like they did all season.

Mack's Mets: Then Brooklyn lost to the Tri-City Valley Cats which featured future LA Dodger Kike Hernandez in the 2010 NYPL Championship Series 2 games – 0.  You did not get the chance to pitch.  Would you have been the starter in Game 3 if it had been payed? 

Chris: Both of those games were well played but I think the biggest thing for us was that we didn’t hit the ball at all those 2 games.  They had some great pitchers and great players they played better and deserved to be the champions that season.  Those games were some tough pills to swallow because we knew we had a great chance to win it all.  Yes, I was in line to start game 3 against those guys I would have loved that challenge of having the ball in a winner take all game. I always loved pitching in games like that from from Little League to High School and even college.

Mack's Mets: What was it like playing for Wally Backman?

Chris: It was great playing for Wally because he was a players manager and he had so much knowledge of the game.  All of us loved him because he treated us like we were his sons.  He was a guy who you could go talk to if you were having problems on or off the field.  He gave us freedom off the field but when he needed to get onto us he didn’t mind that either lol.

Mack's Mets: Was there any other Mets Coach or Manager that stood out?  If so, who did and why? 

Chris: I loved all of my coaches from my time with the Mets but the coaches beside Wally who stood out to me the most were Kevin Morgan, Jonathan Hurst and Frank Viola.  K-Mo was a coach who always had advice for me about different things and was always someone who you could count on. 

Hurst was a really big help in my career because I was around him for all of my career - when it came to spring training, always there when I would be throwing my bullpens, and helping me with my mechanics.  

Frank was a big help to me because he was a lefty who worked with me on so many things, especially helping me develop my change up and he would always say something to make you laugh and take the pressure off yourself in certain situations. 

Mack's Mets (Reese Kaplan): Who did you see in your time with the Mets that impressed you either on the Mets or another team?

Chris: I played with and against a lot of guys who have made the big leagues but Jose Altuve was a different kind of hitter because you never struck him out and everything he put into play was a hard hit ball.   Watching guys like Familia pitch now and seeing how far he has come along since rookie ball. I would say the best player I ever played with was Wilmer Flores.  He was the best hitter I have ever seen and for someone to handle all of that top prospect pressure at 18 years old was amazing.

Mack's Mets: Thank you Chris for taking the time to talk to us.  Best of luck in the future.  Please keep in touch.