The Royals have designated outfielder Billy Hamilton for assignment. His active roster spot will go to Brett Phillips, who was recalled from Triple-A.
Hamilton has long seemed a candidate to change uniforms — ever since he was signed over the offseason, in fact. The rebuilding Kansas City organization inked him for a guaranteed $5.25MM (including a $1MM buyout on a 2020 mutual option) after the Reds non-tendered Hamilton to send him onto the open market.
The 28-year-old Hamilton has never delivered much with the bat, but he’s finding new lows in 2019. Through 305 plate appearances, he’s slashing a meager .211/.275/.269. It’s hard to carry any player on the roster with that kind of offensive output, which is worse than half the league-average hitter (44 wRC+).
Baserunning and defense have long allowed Hamilton to make up for his shortcomings at the plate. But Hamilton isn’t running as often or as well when he does get aboard. The renowned base-stealer has only taken 18 bags, while being cut down five times. Statcast identifies a relatively small but still notable reduction in his sprint speed; Fangraphs’ BsR measure identifies him as a very good but not uniquely exceptional overall baserunner. Defensive metrics do remain quite positive, which remains a strong feather in Hamilton’s cap.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Hamilton. The contract is rather steep for a player that won’t likely feature as more than a 4th or 5th outfielder for a contender. But it’s also fascinating to contemplate what the speedster could do down the stretch and on a postseason roster. If some team decides it really wants to have him, and doesn’t want to risk Hamilton choosing another organization, it’s certainly possible we’ll see a claim.
Meanwhile, the move will open the door for the Royals to get their first look at Phillips in the majors this year. He is still swinging and missing quite a bit this season at Triple-A, as he has since landing with the Milwaukee organization, but he has ramped his walk rate up to 17.4% while delivering good power numbers (.264 ISO, .505 SLG).
Better than Altherr
He will be released signed to a minor league deal within a few hours and directly called up to a postseason contender. Great fielder and pinch runner lots of teams are salivating right now.
I have selfish desire to see him roaming the expanses of Comerica in Detroit. He is not good enough for a playoff and not bad enough that he couldn’t help the Tigers.
I would be all over this right now if I were the Mets. He’s probably still in Kansas City: he could be on the roster tomorrow. Not only are his numbers obviously better than Altherr, but he’s also got a higher OBP than Lagares. As long as McNeil is out, Hamilton would be our best every day option in CF without a doubt.
You can’t steal firstbase.
Lol
Would be a great add to the playoff, though he isn’t as fast as he once was. Still fast though!
He will be released and signed by a contender in no time
What good is he if he can’t get on base. What they going to do. Use him as a PR only?
Yes
Terrance Gore has appeared in 9 post season games and has two plate appearances. So, yes.
I think Terrance Gore’s PS appearances have more to do with KC’s roster depth and less about how valuable he was.
It was good enough to raise a flag *shrug*
Or a philosophy that proved out in the postseason….but your take could be right. If you were talking about this year
Yea that would be the idea….
Sir William Hamilton hath departed the heartland of the new world for an unknown destination
Lmao… and the Reds wanted Heliot Ramos in return for Hamilton.
And Heliot Ramos has done what exactly?
Besides being the 57th ranked prospect, Ramos has 13 HRs this season at high A, and 1 more in 8 games at AA. Hamilton hit 13 HRs over his entire 6 season MiLB career. It’s true Ramos hasn’t proved anything yet. but the absurdity of trading him for Hamilton remains.
Why do you say this stuff for literally every prospect. Is Billy Hamilton worth someone like Alex Kirilloff or Keibert Ruiz since they have a career .000 OPS in the majors?
Billy Hamilton for Wander Franco, Vidal Brujan, and Matthew Liberatore? I mean Hamilton has more homers at the MLB level than any of them?
It really is an idiotic argument to point out that a prospect hasnt done anything in the majors with the implication that it makes them worthless/not as valuable as anyone in the majors
I wasn’t saying that prospect (or any prospect) was worthless, but the guy was talking about him like the Reds were asking for Mike Trout. It’s not that laughable to ask for a prospect in a trade, even the #57 ranked prospect.
Not now, but he was not that long ago. For that matter, not that long ago, Billy Hamilton was as highly regarded a prospect as Alex Kirilloff, probably higher.
BTW, learn what literally means. I haven’t said anything about literally every prospect. That would be thousands of players.
“…the guy was talking about him like the Reds were asking for Mike Trout.”
Exaggerate much? He was not. He was talking about them asking for a guy like Brusdar Graterol.
Heliot was a greenjacket and I got to see him a lot last year as Augusta is my hometown. There is a lot to like about that man!
Heliot Ramos is also the 57th best prospect at the age of 19 right now so… ya a lot to prove but worth way more than Hamilton
I would think the lmao would be directed at the Royals for signing him. Never hurts to ask for a certain prospect, seems all teams would.
Huh? Hamilton is exactly the kind of player the Royals needed to sign. If he had a season something closer to .245 -.260 ba ah with his speed and defense, he could bring back a serviceable minor league player to a rebuilding team.
Who cares what his batting average is … on base percentage is way more important than batting average. Especially a guy with the speed of Hamilton
And $5MM for a guy with historically low BA and OBP and is merely a late inning defensive replacement, albeit a good one, is too much.
Dumbo! Batting average is the supreme tape measure stastistic
I wasn’t thrilled with it, but it wasn’t outrageous. Hamilton is actually the type of player that a tiny little park like Cincy could actually hurt. He needs space in the alleys. Lots of balls fall in gloves that would be down in a spacious park like Kaufman. It was a risk but with little to lose but money. If he had even matched his career numbers, we could’ve flipped him for something. If he has a little surge or even just a hot couple or weeks we flip him. It didn’t work so you cut bait.
If he can’t hit, why would the pitcher throw 4 pitches outside of the strike zone?
because their control sucks?
To be fair it wasn’t as bad a ask then than it would be now.
I’d imagine he will be on a playoff team somewhere pinch running and playing defense
Twins should pick him up and send down Jake Cave.
they should call up brent rooker instead
they should call brent rooker instead
Rooker has been hurt for awhile
or maybe just text him
I’m actually surprised by this. Yes, he played poorly, but if they held on to him a couple of weeks longer more contenders would be interested in trading for him purely for pinch-running purposes.
The trade deadline has passed and he can’t hit.
Trade deadline has passed…
No point in holding on to him. He can’t be traded.
Wait, forgot that that’s true even after he got Dfa’d. Never mind. Time to bring back revocable waivers already 🙂 .
Technically he could be traded for a non 40-man prospect
I mean the Royals cab replace him with a non 40 man guy, but technically he can only be claimed or released now.
technically he can’t.
Asset to most clubs during expanded roster September with impact defense and speed off the bench. 2 teams that could use Billy’s services creatively are the Rays & A’s. Or the Cardinals the way they’ve utilized aggressive base running all season. Hamilton is still a major league player even if he can’t hit. But the clock on him trying to show a semblance of professionalism at the plate is dwindling.
I can see the Braves in on him. They just sent down Duvall and Camargo.
All that speed isn’t that valuable with a .275 OBP. He’s best suited to pinch runner/late inning defensive sub. If a contender has a roster spot for that I can see it. Otherwise I wouldn’t bother. September maybe, but not for the PS.
Sure it is. 27.5% of the time is still higher than zero. And with his speed, he is in scoring position on first base. Getting a slower guy on base 6 more times out of every 100, probably isn’t going to lead to more runs. You don’t win games by getting guys on base. You win games by getting those on base AND scoring runs with them. Hamilton will likely score more runs with his .275 OBP than the average player will with a .325 OBP. And that’s all that really matter in the end.
“Hamilton will likely score more runs with his .275 OBP than the average player will with a .325 OBP.”
That is entirely debatable. Let’s see some stats to back up that assertion, because I am highly skeptical that that’s true.
In fact, I did some research. 2 guys currently have an OBP of .325; Paul DeJong and Amed Rosario. I averaged the 2 since DeJong has more runs in fewer ABs. Hamilton has 61.5% of the ABs of DeJong/Rosario. but only scores 47% of time compared to them. So your assertion would appear to be incorrect.
Percentage-wise even Amed Rosario alone scores more runs per AB than Hamilton. Hamilton is more comparable to Jason Kipnis with his .318 OBP. With 74% of ABs he scores 78% in runs. But then you have Nomar Mazara and his .317 OBP. In 70% of the ABs Hamilton only scores 49% of the runs compared to Mazara.
Better revisit that belief that Hamilton does not lose value due to his low OBP.
Runs are also dependent on how the players behind you produce. If I’m hitting in front of Bellinger, I’m gunna score a high percentage of my OBP than if I’m hitting in front of the pitcher.
Not really defending Hamilton here, but its not like the Royals lineup is driving in a lot of runs
That’s true. But how many guys are hitting in front of Bellinger or Trout? And it’s also the reason why I looked at several players, and even averaged the 2 guys with .325 OBP. With 4 guys being compared, it’s telling that Hamilton only scored better than one guy Kipnis, and then only marginally at that. Plus Kipnis is not a guy with a lot of value either.
So to remove doubt I looked at a bunch of guys and their OBP: Niko Goodrun .324, Asdrubal Cabrera .323, Kyle Scwarber .323, Marwin Gonzales .323, Jose Iglesias .322, Jose Ramirez .322, Michael Chavis .322, Matt Carpenter .322, Elvis Andrus .321, and Wil MyYers .321.
Every single one scored at a better percentage per AB than Hamilton. You had to go down to CJ Cron .319 to find a guy where Hamilton scored at a better percentage, 82% of the runs in 76% of the ABs. But then Leury Garcia .318 scored way better, Hamilton scored only 44% of the runs in 62.5% of the ABs.
At some point the speed might make up for a low OBP, but not one as high as .325 or even .318.
Well that one sample surely proves me wrong. It’s not like those two teams score more runs in general than the Royals or something. Oh wait, the Mets have scored 60 more runs than the Royals. The Cardinals are close, but DeJong does one thing Billy Hamilton doesn’t do, he hits home runs. Of Dejong’s 76 runs, 20 were scored via his home run.
Let’s look at the percentage of times Hamilton scored a run when he reached base. In 2016, he scored 69 runs and reached base 143 times, about 48%. In 2017, he scored 85 runs and reached base 188 times, about 45%. In 2018, he scored 74 runs and reached base 165 times, about 45%. In 2019, he scored 32 runs and reached base 83 times, only about 39% of the time. That can probably be explained due to his teammates not driving him in as much on KC as in Cincy.
I’m going to ignore Rosario since his OBP has made a big jump this year and focus on DeJong since his career OBP is around .325. DeJong is around 45% as well, but if you factor out the home runs since the slowest guy in the world can score on a homer and just focus on his time ON BASE, he only scores 31% of the time. Even using Hamilton’s low mark this season, he would score more runs in 27.5% of the time than DeJong would in 32,5% of the time.
The home runs make the DeJong comparison unfair for both sides, but I think I have made my point. If you don’t agree with it, so be it. I’ll still sleep like a log tonight regardless.
Not true, Hamilton hits 9th which means he’s batting in front of the Whit Merrifield who has led the majors in hits for most of the season:
“That can probably be explained due to his teammates not driving him in as much on KC as in Cincy.”
How does that justify your position? GAB is one of the top hitter’s parks in baseball. So wherever he goes short of Coors, or Chase Field. He’s not going to score as many runs, and scoring runs is the basis for your argument.
And I guess that you missed my post about the 28 players with OBPs from .325 down to .312, where 25 of those players score runs at a higher percentage to AB than Hamilton.
I didn’t miss it, I just wasn’t convinced. You are only using 2019 stats. One year does not make an argument. I have better things to do now, so have a nice night.
If his numbers were down just this season you’d have point. But he hasn’t been good since 2016.
Same to you, enjoy the rest of your evening.
Hi, I’m the guy who actually watches the Royals. Billy Hamilton batter 9th in front of Whit Merrifield who is second in the majors in hits. His lack of runs scored is not because of the people in the Royals lineup.
Also has 30+ doubles and leads the league in triples
Thanks for the info guys. Definitely interesting to see that. I wonder where the real point is where speed>obp is.
Keep moving the goal posts.
It won’t? So forget the other offensive facets, because in that one perfect scenario you crafted Hamilton can score from 1st? Nvm the ability to string together a rally, drive a run in, or park the ball out of his park, an offense is going to be more productive, and score more runs with someone getting on base at a .275 clip King 22%, because in the rare chance Hamilton gets on base and gets to 3rd with less than two outs he might be able to score a run? You’re argument is flawed and just ridiculous. His .275 obp in the grand scheme of things is useless, and he may score a run or two more than a .325 guy, but chances are team offense won’t. All that really matters is a team scores more runs than the other team and a team maximizes those opportunities. He’s a spot start, pinch run, defensive replacement to any team in contention. Nothing more nothing less. That’s why fangraphs idea to maximize his skill set and minimize his ABs were interesting, because they sought to deploy Hamilton with a replaceable guy who got on base which honestly beyond his defensive value is his only offensive value.
*…he’s been on 1B “5 times” when a double was hit.
Mets should be ALL over Hamilton. Plays similar if not better defense in CF than Lagares. They both are poor hitters but Hamilton can do something Lagares never could, run like the wind.
Hamilton’s and Lagares’ numbers are remarkably similar, Lagares has a few extra points in SLG. Lagares’ wRC+ of 51 is woeful, but still bests Hamilton’s 44. Seems like a lateral move at best. Why bother?
Lagares has also been heating up since given more playing time with the injuries. If anything, Hamilton is an upgrade to Altherr.
Bartolo Colon is an upgrade at the plate over Altherr
I’d much rather see Erick mejia than philips.
Not on the 40-man and doesn’t need to be protected from Rule 5 I don’t think. We’ve got several guys we need to protect in the offseason so no sense in putting someone on the 40 if we don’t have to. Let Mejia keep playing every day in Omaha.
Billy scored 30-40% of the time he got on base while in Cincy.
The problem is Cincy and Billy decided he would try switch hitting in the minors – he had never done it before. It ruined him. He was a line drive RH hitter with a .270 +/- BA before they did it. He actually had a bit of power in the minors from the right side. It’s a shame they and he did that.
He was essentially the same hitter, he just couldn’t sustain as high of a BABIP in the MLB which mostly had to do with better infielders and better positioning. So, I don’t think the Reds ruined him. In fact, they made him more projectable.
He was just overmatched this year. Terrible at bats, swinging at junk, couldn’t even lay down a good bunt.
Fans have always overvalued Billy Hamilton, and they continue to do so.
Interesting. Brett Phillips has 22 stolen bases, caught only once in the minors. It looks like the Royals are improving not only at the plate, but on the bases.
Saw this day coming weeks before the Royals signed him.
I can’t believe it took this long. I hoped he would have a bounce back season, kinda? I try not to comment on people’s physical appearances unless it pertains to injuries or intentionally noticeable hair styles, but Hamilton always looked a bit…stressed…overwhelmed…overmatched. He always seemed like a 4th/5th outfielder, a pinch runner, late innings/game is beyond saving replacement, worth maybe $2M a year at most. I wonder if being a starter burned out his potential and he lost a few seasons and a couple million by not remaining in a back up/specialist role- I know his role is the team’s call, I’m just saying.
Hamilton sucked since day 1. Dayton don’t make this kind of mistake again.