I went home that night and thought about if I've ever seen a player like Billy Hamilton. Gary Brown is fast, but this kid Hamilton takes aggression on the base paths to a whole new level. To start the April 24th game Hamilton, the lead off batter, I believe got it to a 3-1 or 3-0 count. I whispered to my friend who was sitting next to me that the pitcher needs to just lay one in there because it's not like Hamilton is going to pop it over the wall or anything like that. He has minimal power in his bat. So the Ports pitcher does just that, lays one in there and Hamilton cracks one of the loudest balls hit all night off the wall the other way in left-center field. Ha ha. Shows how much I know. Kid dang near hit it out. Anyways I'm watching the flight of the ball to see if he hit it out and I look back and he's already rounding 2nd base by the time the outfielder gets to the ball. Easy triple. Blazing speed.
The next day, on the 25th, the game was rained out. :( It gave Hamilton some rest because in the final game of the series on April 26th he stole 4 bases. IN ONE GAME! Stole 2nd and then stole 3rd with two out - then scored on a wild pitch. If you walk him down here in the Cal League, its a triple. In 2011 Hamilton stole 103 bases in 135 games becoming the first minor league player in over 10 years to accomplish that feat. He still needs some fine tuning with his bat, and of course, he is a questionable defender at SS. Perhaps his best position might be CF - but 2B is also a possibility. Some of the plays he made at SS on defense during the series were awkward. Pre-game I noticed that he was helping some of his teammates get the stretching routine down. He bounces around out there and maybe doesn't look like a natural baseball player. He had a scholarship to play NCAA football before the Reds signed him, and honestly, the guy who comes to mind to compare Hamilton to actually plays football. Hamilton reminds me of Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers. A smaller, fearless player with blazing speed. I think Hamilton made the right choice to play baseball though. He is a skinny dude, but has a knack for timing his steal attempts right. I'm hoping Hamilton plays all year for the Blaze as that will give me an opportunity to see him several more times this season. |
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