Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Pirates second baseman Bobby Hill sign autographs at Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla. Click photo for larger image.

TAMPA, Fla. -- He's a guy from San Jose who found his way to the University of Miami.

He's a guy who was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the second round in 2000 and projected as perhaps another Ryne Sandberg at second base.

He's a guy whom the Cubs decided wasn't going to be all that and wound up in a trade with the Pirates in 2003 that will go down as one of the Pirates' largest giveaways -- the Aramis Ramirez/Kenny Lofton sell-off.

He's a guy who was a two-time All-American at Miami and a .295 hitter in the minor leagues but who at age 26 last year -- his first full season in the major leagues -- might have been forever stuck with the tag "Role Guy."

Bobby Hill.

"Labels always come, man," Hill said with a slight grimace. "One thing I've learned about baseball is that once you get labeled, you're labeled. I may have a label already, but I don't believe in it, to be honest with you.

"I know I can play this game. I'm at a point now where if I'm in the big leagues, I'm in the big leagues and sometime or somewhere I may get that opportunity [to be an everyday player], that chance, and I know I'll be ready."

Perhaps, then, that's why Hill did such a great job with the Pirates last season as a pinch-hitter -- a chore often called "the toughest job in baseball."

And a job he had never done before.

Hill, a switch-hitter who began last season platooning some with right-handed batting Jose Castillo at second base, wound up being the Pirates' top pinch-hitter.

He was 16 for 60 -- a .267 average in a job where anything over .250 is considered Silver Slugger range -- with two home runs and 10 RBIs. His 16 pinch-hits were three short of the team record (Jose Pagan, 1969) and one behind National League co-leaders Marlon Anderson and Terrence Long.

And the thing is, after just one full season, Hill might have been so good at that job last season that it will forever be his job in the big leagues.

"I didn't expect him to do as well as he did," said Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon, who was a pretty fair pinch-hitter in the big leagues.

"You get 16 pinch-hits, that's unbelievable," teammate Rob Mackowiak said. "That's pretty tough to do. I've done a little bit of pinch-hitting in my life, and it's not an easy task. He did a great job."

"I was surprised because I had never done it before," Hill said. "I remember talking to Lenny Harris when I was with the Cubs. You know, 'Lenny, how do you do it, man? It's hard.' He said, 'Man, you've got to be aggressive. You can't wait around for certain pitches.'

"I'm like, 'OK, I can see that.' So last year early on when I was pinch-hitting, I was thinking about how I could prepare myself. You know, coming off the bench cold. And then I remembered that Lenny told me -- to be aggressive.

"That's basically my nature of hitting anyway. Just go up there and make it like it's your first at-bat of the game in the first inning and just be aggressive. I just took that approach and it worked."

Harris, by the way, was a pretty good resource for Hill. He's baseball's all-time pinch-hit leader with 193 hits and has a .260 lifetime average as a pinch-hitter.

"You have to be a good fastball hitter. You have to have a good knowledge of the guys you're facing. And Bobby does a great job at it," said McClendon, a former teammate of Harris.

Too great?

"I don't see myself as the utility, pinch-hit guy yet," Hill said. "People may think that's what I am, but I don't see myself as that and that's just because I'm a competitor and I don't like to sell myself short -- period."

Perhaps that's one reason Hill didn't opt for one of the glamour college programs on the West Coast -- Southern California, UCLA, Stanford, Cal State-Fullerton.

He wanted to go to Miami.

"I was always a Hurricane fan growing up," he said. "Every time I watched the College World Series, it seemed like they were in it. I always liked the colors they had.

"When I was 12, my dad took a trip to Miami and I went with him, went to the campus and took some ground balls there. From that point on, I said, 'I want to come here.' So I followed my dreams, I guess."

The California Angels drafted Hill in the fifth round in 1996, but he didn't sign, choosing Miami over the quick start he would get as a professional out of high school.

"I didn't want to go to [college], but I couldn't pass up the dream of Miami," Hill said.

"I always knew professional baseball would still be there. "

Hill still has a dream of playing every day in the major leagues.

But with the heart he showed as a pinch-hitter with the Pirates last season, he might have awakened from the dream.