The Twins have claimed right-handed reliever Ian Hamilton off waivers from the Phillies, per an announcement from the Phillies. He was designated for assignment earlier in the week when Philadelphia re-signed J.T. Realmuto. Minnesota’s 40-man roster is up to 39 players.
Philadelphia claimed the 25-year-old Hamilton from the Mariners, who’d previously claimed him from the White Sox organization. The 2016 eleventh-round pick has appeared briefly in the Majors with the South Siders in two of the past three seasons, allowing a combined six runs on ten hits and seven walks with nine strikeouts in a dozen innings. He’s averaged 95.7 mph on a four-seamer that he complements with a slider and a very seldom-used changeup.
Hamilton had a particularly strong showing between Double-A and Triple-A in 2018, and throughout his minor league career as a whole, he’s posted better-than-average strikeout and walk rates (26.3 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively). He still has a minor league option remaining, so he’ll give the Twins some depth they can shuttle back and forth between Minneapolis and Triple-A St. Paul if he makes it to the season on their 40-man roster.
Hamilton becomes the latest addition to a bullpen mix that is rapidly being reworked. Minnesota signed Alex Colome earlier this week, acquired Shaun Anderson from the Giants yesterday and took a low-cost flier on Hansel Robles in late December.
Yawn
This transaction is the equivalent of a fart.
Sort of like your comment? I get what you did there
Reasonable get for the waiver wire fee.
Queef
He had a good tenure on the Phillies…
how is Quezada still on the roster!?
yea. some of these moves baffled me, but in DD i trust.
Solid pickup, surprised he was on waivers!
“seldom-used changeup“
Ah, I think I’ll Perplex him with my slow ball.
That’s the problem. Too much Bugs Bunny growing up (you, me, and Slow-Ball Hamilton).
I wonder if Hamilton will ever get to Broadway.
Maybe if he adds the Folly Floater to his repertoire. A classic Steve Hamilton versus Tony Horton moment here. I was watching when it happened.
youtube.com/watch?v=WFvp7kMraAw
Tony Horton…Indians/Red Sox….nervous breakdown…crawled back to the dugout one time…..
Yep, I’m old…..
Horton never had a Topps baseball card.
just refreshing the page every so often to see what analysis Ranger29 has
Couple former/recent WSox arms within a few days. Add to the rivalry that is brewing.
JT who?
darn
I remember when Hamilton and Ryan Burr where on the White Sox at the same time so they dressed up as Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr during spring training. Pretty funny
so they dueled it out for a roster spot?
Twins will prove themselves again to be wise with signings like this on the relief market.
Let teams *cough cough*CWS* Cough* spend stupid amounts of money on relievers, then we can sit back and polish our diamonds in the rough and spend that money elsewhere.
He could be a real find for the Twins. Career was derailed by a freak injury, and he was squeezed out of what became a strong WS bullpen.
there’s more like him. Tyler Johnson is similar. Zack Burdi is still around. Matt Foster and Codi Heuer broke into the majors this year.
Solid pickup
As long as Wes Johnson is the Twins pitching coach, I’ll trust any pitcher acquisition that the twins make, and know that it’s probably a good one.