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Apr. 30—Somewhere along the way, Father Time threw Sam Hilliard a curveball.
And not unlike how he has handled hundreds of pitches thrown his way on the field in his baseball career, he smashed it out of the park.
Without notice, the the Albuquerque Isotopes outfielder gracefully graduated from being that young, hungry prospect in the clubhouse on his own tunnel-visioned fast track to the Big Leagues to now being the seasoned, 31-year-old veteran who has both experienced what it's like to live out his baseball dream of being called up by the Colorado Rockies, and also dealt with the harsh reality of being sent back down to the Minors.
"Just thinking about my time here in Albuquerque," Hilliard recalled a year ago in an interview with the Journal in April 2024, "I've been up and down from the big leagues a couple times with the Rockies and I've spent some of my lowest of lows as a baseball player, as a hitter here. Just struggling in the big leagues, not getting to play much and then coming down here and getting everyday at bats and just figuring it out."
His unique perspective has catapulted him to a place of respected mentor — even if he never realized it — in a clubhouse of peers who somehow got much younger than him through the years.
And as he stood in the corner of the Isotopes clubhouse on Tuesday talking to reporters about a local record he set last week in Reno most of his teammates probably didn't even know about — 80 home runs in 297 games with the Isotopes give him more homers than any professional player in Albuquerque has ever had, passing former Albuquerque Duke Mike Busch (79 homers in 407 games) — Hilliard shared gratitude and perspective.
"It's not necessarily something you grow up dreaming about, you know? You want to play in the big leagues and set records there, but I take a lot of pride in it," he said.
"It means a lot. This is something I'm pretty proud of. This is baseball at a really high level. ... So it's an honor."
Meanwhile, one of his teammates, fellow outfielder Zac Veen — the 23-year-old who wears a happy face necklace and has a happy face tattooed on his forearm, was feeling anything but that about his being back in that same clubhouse.
Veen, who has been on every "top prospects" ranking in the Rockies organization for years, finally had his Big League Dream come true on April 6 when he was told by Isotopes Manager Pedro Lopez, "Your going up!" in a video recorded by Lopez that was later shared on social media, capturing the elation of the young player in his big moment.
But two weeks later, this time with no fan fare or cameras around, Veen was sent back to Albuquerque — an up-and-down reality for the vast majority of Big Leaguers early in their careers before they "stick" in the Majors.
"I was really grateful, really excited. I learned a lot, and I can't wait to be back," he told a reporter asking him about the experience.
When the follow-up question about what he had learned came, Veen clearly wasn't in the mood to talk about it.
"I'm just here to play baseball, and whatever they want to do, they do," he said.
Hilliard, who has played in 312 Major League Baseball games over parts of six seasons with the Colorado Rockies and Atlanta Braves, and 305 Triple-A games over parts of five seasons, primarily with the Albuquerque Isotopes, has had plenty of the literal ups and downs between the Bigs and Triple-A.
His Big League call-up was August 27, 2019, and he even hit a home run for his first MLB hit that game. As recently as last September, he smashed a 476-foot homer against the Dodgers.
Then he struggled in spring training and is back in Albuquerque doing the same thing as Veen: Trying to get back up.
But he's doing it with the earned knowledge that the process is a long one — and it doesn't always go as expected.
"It's not a good feeling, man," said Hilliard of being sent back down. "As a competitor, as a really darn good baseball player like Veen is, you don't expect to get sent down. Nobody does. You think that you're just going to get there and you're going to hit it off running, you're going to stay there and be a huge part of the team and have a great career. No one ever expects (going back to Triple-A).
"A guy like Zac, he's going to have many more opportunities. He's an incredible baseball player."
ANOTHER RECORD CHASE? Hilliard on Tuesday hit a walk-off RBI double, scoring Veen for the game-winner, 3-2 over the visiting Salt Lake bees in the bottom of the 9th inning.
Wednesday, he had a hit and a walk and is now sitting at 27-consecutive games reaching base, a streak that included all 20 games he's played this season and the last seven he played last season in Albuquerque before being called up to the Rockies.
ON PACHECO: Hilliard gave a lot of credit for his success to Isotopes hitting coach Jordan Pacheco, the La Cueva High School and UNM graduate who was a MLB player himself.
"He's an amazing guy, amazing hitting coach," Hilliard said. "He's not too far removed from playing so he still has great perspective from that side. He can kind of be one of the guys and he's also got the mentality of a hitting coach. ...
"Everyone here respects him a lot and utilizes his wisdom. He teaches a lot. He belongs to the Big Leagues, but we're lucky to have him here."
Continue reading...
And not unlike how he has handled hundreds of pitches thrown his way on the field in his baseball career, he smashed it out of the park.
Without notice, the the Albuquerque Isotopes outfielder gracefully graduated from being that young, hungry prospect in the clubhouse on his own tunnel-visioned fast track to the Big Leagues to now being the seasoned, 31-year-old veteran who has both experienced what it's like to live out his baseball dream of being called up by the Colorado Rockies, and also dealt with the harsh reality of being sent back down to the Minors.
"Just thinking about my time here in Albuquerque," Hilliard recalled a year ago in an interview with the Journal in April 2024, "I've been up and down from the big leagues a couple times with the Rockies and I've spent some of my lowest of lows as a baseball player, as a hitter here. Just struggling in the big leagues, not getting to play much and then coming down here and getting everyday at bats and just figuring it out."
His unique perspective has catapulted him to a place of respected mentor — even if he never realized it — in a clubhouse of peers who somehow got much younger than him through the years.
And as he stood in the corner of the Isotopes clubhouse on Tuesday talking to reporters about a local record he set last week in Reno most of his teammates probably didn't even know about — 80 home runs in 297 games with the Isotopes give him more homers than any professional player in Albuquerque has ever had, passing former Albuquerque Duke Mike Busch (79 homers in 407 games) — Hilliard shared gratitude and perspective.
"It's not necessarily something you grow up dreaming about, you know? You want to play in the big leagues and set records there, but I take a lot of pride in it," he said.
"It means a lot. This is something I'm pretty proud of. This is baseball at a really high level. ... So it's an honor."
Meanwhile, one of his teammates, fellow outfielder Zac Veen — the 23-year-old who wears a happy face necklace and has a happy face tattooed on his forearm, was feeling anything but that about his being back in that same clubhouse.
Veen, who has been on every "top prospects" ranking in the Rockies organization for years, finally had his Big League Dream come true on April 6 when he was told by Isotopes Manager Pedro Lopez, "Your going up!" in a video recorded by Lopez that was later shared on social media, capturing the elation of the young player in his big moment.
But two weeks later, this time with no fan fare or cameras around, Veen was sent back to Albuquerque — an up-and-down reality for the vast majority of Big Leaguers early in their careers before they "stick" in the Majors.
"I was really grateful, really excited. I learned a lot, and I can't wait to be back," he told a reporter asking him about the experience.
When the follow-up question about what he had learned came, Veen clearly wasn't in the mood to talk about it.
"I'm just here to play baseball, and whatever they want to do, they do," he said.
Hilliard, who has played in 312 Major League Baseball games over parts of six seasons with the Colorado Rockies and Atlanta Braves, and 305 Triple-A games over parts of five seasons, primarily with the Albuquerque Isotopes, has had plenty of the literal ups and downs between the Bigs and Triple-A.
His Big League call-up was August 27, 2019, and he even hit a home run for his first MLB hit that game. As recently as last September, he smashed a 476-foot homer against the Dodgers.
Then he struggled in spring training and is back in Albuquerque doing the same thing as Veen: Trying to get back up.
But he's doing it with the earned knowledge that the process is a long one — and it doesn't always go as expected.
"It's not a good feeling, man," said Hilliard of being sent back down. "As a competitor, as a really darn good baseball player like Veen is, you don't expect to get sent down. Nobody does. You think that you're just going to get there and you're going to hit it off running, you're going to stay there and be a huge part of the team and have a great career. No one ever expects (going back to Triple-A).
"A guy like Zac, he's going to have many more opportunities. He's an incredible baseball player."
ANOTHER RECORD CHASE? Hilliard on Tuesday hit a walk-off RBI double, scoring Veen for the game-winner, 3-2 over the visiting Salt Lake bees in the bottom of the 9th inning.
Wednesday, he had a hit and a walk and is now sitting at 27-consecutive games reaching base, a streak that included all 20 games he's played this season and the last seven he played last season in Albuquerque before being called up to the Rockies.
ON PACHECO: Hilliard gave a lot of credit for his success to Isotopes hitting coach Jordan Pacheco, the La Cueva High School and UNM graduate who was a MLB player himself.
"He's an amazing guy, amazing hitting coach," Hilliard said. "He's not too far removed from playing so he still has great perspective from that side. He can kind of be one of the guys and he's also got the mentality of a hitting coach. ...
"Everyone here respects him a lot and utilizes his wisdom. He teaches a lot. He belongs to the Big Leagues, but we're lucky to have him here."
Continue reading...
