OGB (08-24-2013)
This. By all accounts, Hamilton's baseball speed is unmatched. But in pure, unqualified speed, I doubt he's more than a hair faster than Robinson, if that. When Robinson first signed with the Royals, it was written that "[his] 6.19 60-yard dash time is the fastest recorded in high school baseball history."
http://www.gatorsports.com/article/2.../NEWS/60606019
OGB (08-24-2013)
OGB (08-24-2013)
Attended 1976 World Series in my Mother's Womb. Attended 1990 World Series Game 2 as a 13 year old. Want to take my son to a a World Series Game in Cincinnati in my lifetime.
Not unlikely. I'm from an era of Reds baseball where Felipe Lopez is considered a burner. Not exactly well versed in speed.
But really though, that's the difference between herladed prospect Billy Hamilton and scrap heap pick up Derrick Robinson? Instincts? That sounds bad to me.
Last edited by Superdude; 08-17-2013 at 06:04 PM.
Not to speak for Doug, but I think he was only referring to their speed on the basepaths. There is another huge difference between the two. Hamilton can hit, Robinson can't. Robinson was a .650 OPS guy at every level, while Hamilton was OPSing around .800 at most levels until this season at AAA.
Hoping to change my username to 75769024
Doug, I guess I wasn't clear. The idea that Robinson is fast, yeah I agree. But he isn't able to use his speed the way Hamilton seems to. I did not know though that Robinson was so fast coming from HS - that blurb from Mace was an eye opener - but begs the question, why the heck doesn't he make better use of his speed? He has never been a huge stealer - his 69 steals in high A came at a 75% success rate - not good, imo, for a guy with barnburner speed, especially at a low level where pitchers and catchers aren't as skillful. Maybe Billy is quicker starting out? Maybe he simply reads pitchers better? Whatever, I still think there is no way Robinson can do the same things that Hamilton can. (Billy's success rate is around 85% even with the defense knowing he is going)
Last edited by RedlegJake; 08-18-2013 at 10:47 AM.
You do just realize that you said a guy who once stole 69 bases isn't a huge stealer, right? Pitchers/catchers have no surprises that Robinson is going to be running just like with Hamilton.
Hamilton is better at reading pitchers.
Yeah he stole 69 with a fairly low success rate and so far is 3 of 8 with the Reds. My beef with Robinson is that he is fairly unaware of just how to use his speed successfully. Or he isn;t being put in a position to be successful. There is that possibility.
FWIW, Hamilton has hit safely in 14 of his last 16 games. In that time, he's had a line of:
.343/.375/.373/.748
In that time, it's mostly been singles and he's still not walking a ton. That said, if he just keeps hitting the ball hard, the gap shots will come. And on the bright side, he's only struck out eight times in that timeframe (70 PAs).
He's still got a long way to go, but he's showing signs of adjusting.
"No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference." ~Tommy Lasorda
Edd Roush (08-23-2013),lollipopcurve (08-23-2013),Old school 1983 (08-23-2013),OnBaseMachine (08-23-2013),REDREAD (08-25-2013)
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