TORONTO — The Blue Jays simply did not know what to expect from former LSU star Aaron Hill this year. The concussion that the second baseman suffered last season was serious enough that the team admittedly had its doubts about his ability to return to the diamond.
“Sometimes people don’t come back from concussions,” Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said earlier this year. “That certainly was a worry on our part — his, too.”
As it turned out, Hill returned in a big way for Toronto.
After one of the most prolific offensive showings in club history, Hill has been named the American League’s Comeback Player of the Year in voting by 30 MLB.com beat reporters. Hill received 14 first-place votes, five second-place votes and three third-place votes to finish ahead of Red Sox catcher Victor Martinez and Twins outfielder Michael Cuddyer in balloting.
Toward the end of last season, while Hill was coping with not being able to return to Toronto’s lineup, someone told him about the Comeback Player honor. Hill, the 2003 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year at LSU, was determined enough on his own to prove that he could return strong this season, and at the time he joked with former general manager J.P. Ricciardi about capturing the accolade.
“I told J.P., ‘I’m going to win that Comeback Player of the Year thing,'” Hill recalled with a laugh this past September. “He probably wouldn’t remember that, but I do.”
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