HILL, KOYIE  
 
Image of    Nickname:   N/A Position:   C
Home: Lawton, Oklahoma Team:   CUBS
Height: 6' 0" Bats:   S
Weight: 195 Throws:   R
DOB: 3/9/1979 Agent: N/A
Birth City: Tulsa, Oklahoma Draft: Dodgers #4 - 2000 - Out of Wichita State Univ.
Uniform #: 55  
 
YR LEA TEAM SAL(K) G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO OBP SLG AVG
2000 NWL YAKIMA   64 251 26 65 13 1 2 29 0   25 47     .259
2001 SAL WILMINGTON   134 498 65 150 20 2 8 79 21   49 82     .301
2002 SL JACKSONVILLE   130 468 67 127 25 1 11 64 5   76 88     .271
2003 SL JACKSONVILLE   25 101 9 23 7 0 0 7 2   6 19     .228
2003 PCL LAS VEGAS   85 312 48 98 18 0 3 36 5   15 39     .314
2003 NL DODGERS $300.00 3 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0   0 2     .333
2004 PCL LAS VEGAS   91 350 57 100 26 0 13 54 0   28 69     .286
2004 NL DIAMONDBACKS   13 36 3 9 1 0 1 6 1   2 6     .250
2005 NL DIAMONDBACKS $318.00 34 78 6 17 5 0 0 6 0   11 27     .218
2005 PCL TUCSON   50 168 22 41 9 1 5 26 3   23 37     .244
2006 IL COLUMBUS   20 70 4 10 2 0 1 5 0 0 5 17 .197 .214 .143
2007 NL CUBS $380.00 36 93 7 15 4 0 2 12 0 0 8 18 .231 .269 .161
2007 PCL IOWA CUBS   47 149 22 48 16 0 2 24 1 1 11 23 .364 .470 .322
2008 PCL IOWA   113 364 56 100 24 2 17 64 3 2 40 77   .492 .275
2008 NL CUBS   10 21 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 12 .095 .143 .095
2009 NL CUBS $475.00 83 253 26 60 12 2 2 24 0 0 27 78 .312 .324 .237
2010 NL CUBS $700.00 63 171 14 38 9 1 1 17 0 0 7 47 .251 .304 .222
PERSONAL:

  • The name Koyie? "My Momnamed me. My dad’s name is Kennard, and my older sister is Kassie, with a K. She had heard the name Coy and she liked it. But she wanted it to start with a K. So she did that, and bought a couple of vowels."

    And, his teammates, noticing the original name, started calling him "The Koyie" when he was in Double-A with the Dodgers. And it stuck ever since.

  • How long has Koyie had the vision to play Major League Baseball?

    "I came home in first grade and told my mom I don't need to do my homework because I was going to be a pro baseball player," Hill said.

  • Ryne Sandberg was his favorite player when he was growing up.
  • In 2000, Hill led the Missouri Valley Conference with 102 hits, batting .391. He was a third baseman at Wichita State.

  • Dodger scout Mitch Webster signed Hill.

  • "In the offseason, I used to work building houses for extra money," Koyie recalled.

  • He is a blue-collar player with a tough approach to the game. He works hard and is an unselfish, team player.

  • Koyie approaches the game in a professional manner. He works hard and learns quickly. He stands out in the way he hustles. When the game is over, he may not have gotten a hit or an RBI, but you will know that he played in that game. Koyie doesn't just want to be on the field, he wants to make an impact.

    "If I can out-tough somebody or out-grit somebody or just out-hustle somebody, I've done a good job," he said. "But I try to be as mentally prepared as possible for what I do."

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  • Hill used to drive a 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe. "But I’d rather be driving around in a big, black ’56 Chevy."

    And now he likes to drive around in his restored 1970 Chevelle.

    In the CD changer, Koyie said he had Led Zeppelin, Black Crowes, and Lynrd Skynrd.

  • Koyie's favorite restaurant on the road in the minors: Cracker Barrel, for their chicken fried steak.

  • In his spare time, he likes to go to a movie or the beach or anything with his wife, Meghan.

  • First Major League game he attended: "Nolan Ryan was pitching against the Orioles and Cal Ripken had the first hit, a two-out single in the first down the right-field line. It was in Arlington before they built the new ballpark. I was probably in the sixth grade."

    Koyie said playing in his first Major League game, in 2004, he was more thrilled, than overwhelmed. "Even if there are 50,000 people out there, it's the same game as when you were in Little League. You just have to keep the 50,000 people out of your head," he said.

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  • Hill says that if he doesn't go on to be a coach or manager after his playing career, he might go back to school to be an architect.

    "They did not offer (that major) at Wichita State, but I was a major league baseball major at school, anyway," Koyie said.

    TRANSACTION REPORT

  • June 2000: The Dodgers chose Hile in the 4th round, out of Wichita State University.

  • July  31, 2004: The Diamondbacks sent OF Steve Finley and C Brent Mayne to the Dodgers, acquiring Hill, P Bill Murphy, and OF Reggie Abercrombie.

  • April 6, 2006: The Yankees claimed Hill off waivers from the D'Backs.

  • December 2006: Koyie signed with the Cubs organization.

  • January 19, 2010: Hill and the Cubs avoided arbitration, agreeing to an $800,000 contract for 2010.
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    BATTING:

    • Koyie is a fine switch-hitting catcher (a rarity) who can put the bat on the ball. He has a quick, level line-drive stroke and enough power that he should hit 15-20 homers a year. And he has the plate discipline and patience to draw walks.

    • Hill drives the ball better from the left side of the plate. But he has power to the alleys from both sides.

    • Sometimes, Hill seems more adept at hitting breaking pitches than fastballs.

    • Koyie displays good plate discipline.

      BREAKDOWN VS. LEFTIES AND RIGHTIES

    • In 2009, the switch-hitting Hill batted .256 with no home runs in 43 at-bats vs. lefthanders. And .233 with 2 homers in 210 at-bat against righthanded pitchers.
  • As of the start of the 2010 season, Koyie had a career average of .215 with 5 home runs in 484 at-bats in the Majors.
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    FIELDING:

    • Koyie has a real feel for the game. Dodgers farm director Jerry Weinstein says, "He has a nurturing peronality for the pitchers." He handles a pitching staff well. Being a catcher fits Hill's personality.

      It is his mental toughness that allowed Koyie to switch from 3rd base to catcher when he was an All American at Wichita State.

    • He also has soft hands. His arm is only average, but he makes up for any lack of strength with his footwork and a quick transfer from glove to hand, followed by a quick release. His throws are very accurate. And Hill argues with those who say his arm is just average. "I had a throw timed at 96 (mph) when I was playing 3rd in college (at Wichita State). But I've had to learn a new way of throwing as a catcher, so I can't always get everything into it yet."
  • Most impressive in moving from third base to catcher has been Hill’s instincts in dealing with pitchers and their comfort level with him. The soft hands from his days as an infielder make him an excellent receiver.

  • Koyie says, "Catching is a blast. The toughest thing is the everyday grind, the mental grind of it. Then you have to get on the bus, and your knees are up to here (flexing his thigh to his chest). I might need to start drinking WD-40."

  • In 2002, Hill threw out 33 percent of attempting basestealers in the Southern League.

  • Diamondbacks Manager Al Pedrique is impressed with the catching skills Koyie has. "I like his style of playing," Pedrique said. "He's a hard-nosed player. Behind the plate he receives well, blocks well, and he has a good idea about calling the game. Offensively he's going to help us. He's a switch-hitter, he's got some power, and for a catcher, he runs well. Seems like a nice kid, too." (August, 2004)
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    RUNNING:

    • Hill has the speed to steal 20 bases a year—incredible for a catcher. (Editor's note: From 2004 to August 2009, in parts of six Major League season, he had one total stolen base.)
     
    CAREER INJURY REPORT:

    • November 2002: Koyie injured his knee late in the Arizona Fall League, but X-rays showed no real damage.

    • August 18, 2004: Hill was on the D.L. with a fractured right ankle. He was injured in a collision at home plate with the Pirates' Ty Wigginton. It ended Koyie's season.

      Wigginton sought out Hill the next day. "He just wanted to say he was sorry about me getting injured," Hill said. "But I think we both agreed that it was about as fair a play as you could have. I was going to make him come right through me and he did."

      The fact that Hill stayed in the game after the injury to finish the inning—which included his participation in a rundown—impressed his teammates. But some were upset that Wigginton so aggressively pursued contact when attempting to score in the fourth inning that night, or that Hill so steadfastly stood his ground, don't count Pedrique among them.

    		"[Hill] did the right thing," Pedrique said. "That's part of the game. He was doing his job, and the runner was doing his and that's just one of those things. That's the way the game is played, the way it's supposed to be played. Again it was clean slide, and it's too bad Hill ended up with the worst part of it."

    Koyie had surgery on the ankle August 27, 2004. Screws were inserted to hold together the tibia and fibula bones in his ankle, as well as to keep the membrane that sits between the two bones in place. The screws are dissolvable, so no further surgery was required to remove them.

  • 2006: Hill missed almost all of the season after undergoing Tommy John ligament transplant surgery on his right elbow.

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  • October 16, 2007: Koyie severed two fingers on his right hand in a table saw/carpentry accident during the off-season before 2008 spring training. Surgeons reattached the right thumb and three fingers on his right hand.

    Hill, an aspiring architect, was making a window frame for his house. The table saw he was using got stuck in the wood and managed to cut through his thumb, his pinky finger, ring finger and middle finger, leaving him bloodied and obviously in severe pain.

    Hill was eventually taken to the emergency room, and a hand specialist was called upon to reattach the fingers.

    "Catching is easy,” Hill said. "Thank God it wasn’t my left hand. They added enough bones to my middle finger to where it moves some. They had me hold a ball in my left hand to see where my finger was placed so when they sewed it back on it was fixed in a position. So you could say it was actually built for playing baseball now, which is something a baseball player always wanted. Now, the hand is as good, or a little better.” (Paul Sullivan-Chicago Tribune-9/02/08)

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    Last Updated 9/4/2010. All contents © 2000 by Player Profiles. All rights reserved.