Hillegas was drafted by the
California Angels in the 26th round (657th overall) of the
1983 draft. He opted not to sign that year. In 1984, he signed with the
Los Angeles Dodgers after being drafted 4th overall in the first round. He did well in the minors, with only one bad stretch: in 1986 with the
Albuquerque Dukes, he had a 6.17 ERA in 9 games. His best minor league season statistically was 1984 with the
Vero Beach Dodgers, where he had a 1.83 ERA in 13 games. On August 9, 1987, Hillegas made his major league debut. He lived up to his first round status in his debut-he pitched 8 innings with 6 strikeouts and 2 earned runs for the win. Perhaps his best Major League season was his rookie year-he went 4-3 with a 3.57 ERA in 58 innings pitched. Hillegas went 24-38, with a 4.61 ERA. He never quite lived up to his 1st round status as a whole. As a batter, he went 2-29-that's a .069 batting average. He committed 9 errors in the field, for a .900 fielding percentage. He balked only once in his career. He played his final game on July 17, 1993. ==Major transactions==