Dodgers' Hill suggests letting pitchers with blisters wear band-aids

If anyone can claim to be an expert on blisters without a medical degree, it's Los Angeles Dodgers southpaw Rich Hill.

Long before the ailment became an epidemic among pitchers in 2017, they were causing a lot of problems for Hill. When the Athletics traded him to the Dodgers last July, Hill was on the disabled list with a blister on his middle finger - an issue that continued into this year and has forced him back to the disabled list once.

Hill's tried just about everything to combat his blisters in the past year, but now he's far from the only pitcher dealing with the problem. As blisters continue to plague more pitchers, criticism has been thrown in many directions - including the commissioner himself - and there's been widespread speculation about whether the balls have been changed or even juiced.

While a solution has yet to be found, Hill wondered Monday if allowing blister-stricken pitchers to cover the area with a bandage might stem the tide.

"Get a TUE (a therapeutic-use exemption) for your finger to wear a band-aid," the 37-year-old told JP Hoornstra of the Los Angeles Daily News. "A therapeutic-use exemption to put superglue on your fingers - some substance so you're not getting blisters - I think if certain players are able to take certain things because they lack it in the body, I think other players could be looked at to have a TUE for their finger, for a blister."

Related: MLB investigating baseball seams after Stroman's blister comments

While the idea has some merit, it's likely to never see the light of day for a variety of reasons, including the rule preventing pitchers from using foreign substances (bandages would fall into that category). Another Dodgers pitcher, Brandon McCarthy, noted to Hoornstra that the process of getting a TUE approved might take too much time for blister-stricken pitchers to try it over other rehab methods.

For now, it appears the matter of blisters will have to be solved in more conventional ways such as simply getting used to the new ball through repetition, as Hill did early this season.

"One of the answers I've been able to come up with to combat the blister is to throw more with the baseball," Hill said. "You condition your hand or your fingers to the baseball and the seams. Now it's, like, almost irrelevant."