One of the best stretches of Darius Hill’s professional career led to his promotion to Triple-A baseball last May. A year later, Hill is on another tear.

The former WVU outfielder – now in the Chicago Cubs organization – rode a .274 batting average during the first month of the season in April for the Iowa Cubs. Now in May, he has improved his average to .282 during two separate hitting streaks.

From May 9 through May 20, he carried a nine-game hitting streak in which he recorded multiple hits in four separate games and batted .342. He has since picked up another four-game hitting streak after the initial run was snapped on May 21. There have been just two games this month in which he did not hit safely.

A left-handed hitter, Hill is atypically dominating lefties in Triple-A. He is 10-for-22 (.455) in 27 plate appearances against southpaws this season.

His power manifests itself against righties. His lone homer of the year and six of his eight doubles have come against right-handers.

Hill’s best baseball is being played at Principal Park in Des Moines, Iowa. At home, he is hitting for an impressive .349 average compared to hitting .243 on the road. Luckily for Hill, 18 of Iowa’s next 26 games will be played at home.

In the field, he has played 15-of-29 games in right field, where he recorded his lone outfield-assist of the season so far. In 2023, he has a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage with no errors.

Statistically, Hill is one of the best hitters to ever put on a West Virginia University baseball uniform. He is WVU’s all-time leader in doubles (79), second in career hits (304), tied for second in extra-base hits (106), and is sixth in career runs batted in (163).

Hill was taken with the 612th pick in the 20th round of the 2019 MLB Draft.

He was named the Cubs’ minor league player of the month last June.