Infielder/outfielder Garrett Hampson has been released by the Diamondbacks, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment by the Snakes a week ago. He’ll be a free agent once he clears release waivers, if he hasn’t already.
Hampson, 30, signed a minor league deal with Arizona in the offseason. They selected him to the Opening Day roster, preventing him from triggering an opt-out chance. That locked Hampson into a $1.5MM salary for this year. Hampson is a veteran with more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while keeping that salary in place. It seems the Snakes have decided to skip that formality and send Hampson more directly to free agency.
As a free agent, any club could sign Hampson and would only have to pay him a prorated version of the $760K league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Diamondbacks are paying him.
It’s possible that some club may be interested in that arrangement. Hampson has never been a huge threat at the plate but has provided value in the field and on the basepaths. He has a career .239/.302/.358 batting line, production which translates to a wRC+ of 69. That indicates he’s been 31% worse than league average overall. His production with the D’Backs this year was shaped differently but worked out to be roughly the same value. In 41 plate appearances, he had nine walks but just five hits, leading to a humpbacked .167/.359/.167 line and 71 wRC+ in that small sample.
But Hampson has 66 steals in 82 attempts during his career. He has also played every position on the diamond except catcher. Most of that has been at second base and center field but the ability to bounce around is attractive in a bench player. Given the low cost, it’s possible some club brings Hampson aboard as a guy who can serve as a defensive replacement and/or a pinch runner.
Photo courtesy of Reggie Hildred, Imagn Images
Garrett will probably sign at least a minor league contract due to his age and the many positions he plays. His average .169 is very low but 9 walks and he has scored 10 runs in 41 total plate appearances is good.
Bad day for guys named Garrett
Lawler and Tawa offer defensive versatility with the potential of significantly better offensive upside rendering Hampson unnecessary. That said, in limited playing time, Hampson’s defensive versatility, aggressive baserunning and .360 OBP were surprisingly beneficial to the Dbacks. Imo, he adds value at the back end of some 26-man rosters.
Hampson was with Royals last year and a real lightning rod for criticism. Royals did well and manager Q used him a lot. But it was hard to see much value. Seems like good hard working guy.
Hampson had a tough go of it in KC, including a .275 OBP and unfavorable supporting numbers – SO%, BB%, HH% and Exit Velo. I have a friend that’s a longtime, loyal Royals fan and KC resident that really dislikes Hampson based on last season.
He did have a tough time hitting last year in KC. What was inexplicable to Royals fans was that he played 113 games and got 231 PA’s when he could not hit. Having said that, late in year, when Royals were struggling and in danger of missing playoffs, he was still playing and on home game in the last inning, he was up and missed a walk off by inches down the left field line. Royals paid him $2,000,000. Hope he finds new team and more success, but I think he has made over $7,000,000 in career with 72 OPS+
Rockies almost certain to pick him up so they can bury their prospects even further on the depth chart
I thought the same thing. Rockies will be happy to welcome him home because he embodies the concept of mediocrity which is their hallmark.
The weirdest thing sticks out to me about this guy. One of his first games was against the Cardinals, and John Rooney correctly pronounced the “p” in Hampson, but Mike Shannon couldn’t believe there was a “p” in there and asked John Rooney if he knew the family personally, as if that was the only way he could’ve known. Hampson was a somewhat noted prospect, so this was just so weird to me, lol. Definitely a sign of old Mike losing it.