Turner Hill, of the Sacramento River Cats, celebrates in the dugout during a game earlier this season. (Photo Provided by River Cats)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — If the San Francisco Giants organization didn’t have Marietta native Turner Hill on their radar before, they most certainly do now.

Already in the midst of an outstanding 2026 season, the month of June has no doubt been the best month of Hill’s four-year minor league career and has the former Marietta Tiger and Pioneer just one phone call away from reaching his lifelong dream of getting called up to the big leagues.

Through 18 games played in June, Hill is batting .338 for the month with four home runs and 16 runs-batted-in.

The left-handed hitting outfielder has hits in all but three of his starts in June, including seven multi-hit games.

“I’ve been feeling really good and I’ve been working a lot with our hitting coach here in Sacramento (P.J. Pilittere) and I’ve been able to find an approach that I can stick to,” said Hill, a 2017 graduate of Marietta High School. “We are in the start of the second half of the season so I feel like I’m in a pretty good spot right now.”

Turner Hill, left, laughs with a Sacramento River Cats coach during a game earlier this season. (Photo Provided by River Cats)

Hill has been known for his ability to make contact throughout his career, but he has displayed a bit of power in June with his four long-balls, including three that came in a span of 24 hours.

On June 17 against Oklahoma City, Hill slugged a pair of home runs, including a grand slam, and then followed that up the next day by slamming a two-run shot in his first at-bat of a day game.

“My whole career up until now I’ve always been known as kind of a speedy, slap hitter, but I put some work in this offseason and throughout this season and I think it’s finally clicked,” said Hill, who was a two-time All-American at Marietta College. “I’ve worked on getting to the pitches in, the fastballs, the cutters and the sliders and being able to pull it, and that’s helped me hit with some more power.”

While the power stroke is certainly a welcome addition to his overall game, Hill has always been known for his ability to put the ball in play.

In an era where strikeouts are plenty, Hill has walked more times in his professional career than he has struck out (159-141).

“That’s always kind of been my thing as a baseball player is that I hate to strike out, so to be able to keep that rolling in the minor leagues has been great,” said Hill, who has walked 29 times this season compared to 23 strikeouts. “I always try to control the zone and keep a good bat-to-ball and be a tough out.”

Even before the month of June, Hill was having a breakout season.

Through 60 games, Hill is batting .327 with five homers and 43 RBIs with a .408 on-base percentage and an outstanding .879 OPS.

His numbers prorated into a full season would add up to him scoring and driving in close to 100 runs.

He has also swiped 14 bases in 15 tries and made just one error in the field while totaling four outfield assists.

Hill has noticed a slight improvement in the pitching he faces this year in triple-A compared to what he saw last season when he spent the bulk of his season at double-A Richmond.

“As a whole it’s not a huge change, but you do have some more experienced pitchers with big league time that know how to pitch,” said Hill. “A lot of those guys are older though and may not have as good of stuff as they once did.”

The life of a minor league player is anything but a glamorous one. One of the hardest parts is the constant movement of players who come and go as they are either promoted or demoted.

“It can be tough because you meet some of these guys in spring training and then they get moved up or down,” said Hill. “In a span of one or two weeks the whole dynamic of a team can change.”

The Giants major league team is in the midst of a sub-par season and rumors are abound that they might be willing to trade away a bunch of their high-priced players at the deadline, which could either favor Hill or work against him.

In one way it may open up a spot on the big league roster, but in another they may acquire younger talent that they will want to get a look at in the big leagues before the season is through.

Hill knows he can not control any of that and his focus is on performing at the highest level he came to improve his stock.

“We follow the big league team for sure but when it comes to moves being made it’s impossible for us to figure out what is going to happen,” said Hill.

“I try to not get too high or not get too low and just try to be as consistent as I can over the course of the season and whatever ends up happening happens. There’s so many moving parts to getting called up but I do feel like I’ve put myself in a good spot.”

Hill will complete his fourth full year in the minors this year, which will leave him still two years short of being able to become a minor league free agent at the end of the season.

Should the Giants not promote him either this season or in the offseason to their 40-man roster, he would be eligible for the Rule 5 draft in December, where other teams can select players out of their opponents’ organization who are not protected on the 40-man roster.

One big change Hill has made in his life is his faith as he was baptized over the offseason. He believes that his faith has played and will play a huge role in his future no matter where he winds up.

“My faith is something that I’ve grown in over the last few years and the peace and the freedom that I’ve been able to play with last year and this year is a big part of my success,” said Hill. “I don’t feel all the pressure to have it all figured out and be worried about the future and what could or couldn’t happen, so just trusting in God and his timing has allowed me to play free and play with peace and confidence.”