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Originally Posted by dougdirt
At the same time, Mike also notes that he thinks there is some concern that Hamilton isn't going to be able to handle MLB velocity either. I don't know that I agree with that completely, but he isn't the first guy I have heard say it either. You are right though, if Hamilton can OBP .340 or higher, he is going to be valuable as heck.
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I definitely think that's a fair consideration. I guess my main point is that he seems to be looking at the list of minor league stolen base leaders and pigeonholing Hamilton a bit. As you and I agree on, if Hamilton's current skillset carries over to the majors, he's going to be incredibly valuable. All he needs to do is put the ball in play with grounders or line drives, and use his eye at the plate and speed on the base paths to do the rest. If he does that, we're looking at a .750-.800 OPS and a guy that can steal over 80 bases.
If his premise is that Hamilton might not be able to hit big league pitching, I concur the jury might be out on that. His current skillset as it's being shown, however, would carry over nicely if he's not overpowered at the next level.