The White Sox have released veteran outfielder Billy Hamilton, as indicated on the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’s now a free agent.
Hamilton hasn’t played since July, spending the past several weeks on the injured list. The Sox never made an announcement on the status of his injury, though a source tells MLBTR that Hamilton was shelved due to discomfort in his right shoulder and cleared to resume playing this past Sunday. However, the Sox are opting to move on rather than bringing him back to the roster in Triple-A Charlotte or in the big leagues.
Parting ways with Hamilton now ought to give him time to latch on with a postseason hopeful that could look to use him as a defensive replacement and/or pinch-runner late in games. It’s common for playoff contenders to carry specialists of that nature, particularly in September, when rosters expand from 26 to 28 players. At the very least, he’d make a sensible depth option to carry in the upper minors, in the event of any injuries on the big league roster.
The 32-year-old Hamilton is, of course, one of the game’s fastest players and most dynamic defenders. He’s never been a great hitter, but his bat has fallen off even further since his early-career days with Cincinnati: .205/.262/.288 in 549 MLB plate appearances since 2019. However, Hamilton boasts elite marks of 73 Defensive Runs Saved and 58 Outs Above Average in 6766 career innings in center field. He’s also been successful in 326 of his 398 career stolen base attempts — an 81.9% success rate. He’s become more efficient as his career has progressed, succeeding in 84.4% of his 58 attempts dating back to 2019 and 90% of his 30 attempts since 2020. Statcast pegged Hamilton in the 97th percentile of MLB hitters in terms of average sprint speed in 2021 and in the 91st percentile a year ago.
Hamilton has logged just 25 plate appearances over the past two seasons, collecting only one hit in that span. His most recent season with playing time of note saw him bat .220/.242/.378 in 135 plate appearances with the 2021 White Sox. He was hitting .147/.261/.253 in 89 trips to the plate with Triple-A Charlotte this season prior to his placement on the injured list and subsequent release.
As soon as Jerry fires Rick and Kenny, did the assistant GMs just start making moves, like they were just waiting for them two guys to get fired, because White Sox sure are busy today!
Jerry doesn’t want this to get out, but the Chisox have long been run by an “analytics” app. You don’t think people could be this dumb do you?
The analytics app is a Chinese knockoff filled with glitches considering how things have gone the past couple of seasons now.
The whole theory of analytics is “filled with glitches” such as overvaluing walks by non basestealers and measuring the speed of foul balls in hard hit rates.
Please provide your evidence that those things are overvalued by analytics.
Thank you in advance
mlbfan: Reinsdorf also said in an interview, “Just because a guy is hitting .202 doesn’t mean he’s a bad hitter.” If that’s the case, keep Hamilton
Bring back Adam Done
.202 was like a career year for him though…
Pretty sure Adam Dunn hit .222 he did hit a lot home runs probably started the uppercut movement so he was revolutionary lol
Comon now. Releasing Billy Hamilton, now that’s going a little too far don’t you think.
Or course, “Just because a guy is hitting .202 doesn’t mean he’s a bad hitter” isn’t at all the same thing as “having a .202 batting average means a player IS a good hitter”. Because batting average is a very bad stat for measuring hitting performance.
It’s like trying to measure hitting only by looking at K% or BB%.
I mean, some people are still “dumb” enough to be anti-analytics, so…
Does it matter? White Sox will be one of baseball’s biggest jokes until new ownership – at the earliest.
Wait till you see who he hires as replacements. The joke goes on and on and on.
This dude swiped 155 bags in the minors in 2012. Regardless if its the minors or not, that’s just insane lmao.
Hamilton has never been a good hitter. His value is his speed and defense. He’s made plays in the OF that even Robert couldn’t get to. I’ll never forget his catch in 2021. He ran to left center, dove full out in the gap and caught the ball as he landed in a mud puddle. Ironically, he caught the ball right under the sign that said The Catch. It was put there for Buerhle’s perfect game, but it could just as easily been for Billy.
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True. But he was also thrown out 37 times.
Although nothing has been announced, you can tell the white Sox are getting rid of the some of the players that cannot help them and honestly this is a couple of smart moves already by getting rid of a injury prone pitcher and an outfielder that cannot hit.
They can’t get rid of everyone they want to, as they have to field a team.
stymeedone: They are fielding a team. In fact the Sox are the best AAA team in the majors.
Billy is maybe the most exciting player in the majors…..when/if he gets on base (rivaled by de La Cruz). For his sake, I hope he’s healthy and can cause havoc on the base paths for some contender this Sept/Oct. Go get ‘em, Billy!
Those nice steal percentage numbers mentioned in the article almost entirely came before the bases were enlarged. He hasn’t had many opportunities with the big bases & I’d love to see what he’s capable of!
But if he has a big base, won’t that slow him down? 😉
It’s all about that base, no triple
I like big bases, I cannot lie
Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuna, Mookie Betts, and you think Billy Hamilton is the most exciting guy to watch. Baseball has room for many opinions!
That’s not really what he said at all. His statement was aimed at a particular scenario and not as a whole. Agree with your last sentence though!
Billy in his reds prime was unique and very exciting to watch he did things that didn’t seem possible. Now though he’s just not playable.
When used strictly as a pinch runner and defensive replacement he is a very nice weapon off the bench
@Maurired I hope the Braves pick him up for the playoffs like they did 2019.
Thank you, Sid. Yes, I specifically said, when he gets on base (which is clearly a big issue with Hamilton).
Most exciting overall is a big question.
I predicted he would be the next Vince Coleman
I predicted he was the next Gary Coleman
True story. My dad was at O’Hare in the seventies when he heard this distinctive laugh. He turned around and it was Gary Coleman. Dad rubbed his hair and Gary said, “You should have a Hubert doll.”
I saw him at Six Flags when I was about 5 and was so excited to see him that I ran up to him and called him Arnold. He screamed at me and caused a huge scene. Jerk.
Maybe now the new Sox GM can get rid of all those dfa’s Hahn signed. That will give them some room for true prospects if Reinsdorf wants to actually have a competitive team.
They have very few true prospects. And, none will be ready next year.
They picked up a couple good catching prospects at the deadline. I think the one they got from the Angels could get a Sept call-up to get a look.
Hamilton is looking to make Terrance Gore obsolete as the late-season/pinch-runner specialist. Hat tip to all of the Herb Washingtons and Matt “The Scat” Alexanders who paved the way.
Billy is one of the most likeable guys around, so you always root for him. If only he learned how to bunt well, he could hit .260 and you would live with that with the other skills. But if Delino DeShields Sr. and Juan Pierre can’t teach you, you are a lost cause. I think even Brett Butler was brought in one spring training.
What’s puzzling is bunting is MUCH easier than hitting. You’re just catching the ball with the bat and putting it in play. Any player who can’t bunt just doesn’t want to bunt. Earlier this year I saw a HS coach teaching bunting using a lacrosse stick. I coached baseball for many years – how did I not think of that!!
Now there are plenty of guys to get rid of and Billy is not one of them. If u have a problem in the clubhouse, he is literally the one guy u have up to keep everything together.
He’d be ideal as a Manfred Runner in the 10th inning.
Oh please sign with the Tigers! Comerica was made for you, my sweet billie boy
Billy! Billy!