"Even a bad day at the ballpark beats the snot out of most other good days. I'll take my scorecard and pencil and beer and hot dog and rage at the dips and cheer at the highs, but I'm not ever going to stop loving this game and this team and nobody will ever take that away from me." Roy Tucker October 2010
You do realize that Hamilton's value hinges on getting on base and that, with no power and a pedestrian walk rate, the only way he can really do that it to produce a high frequency of balls in play, right? And do you also realize that Hamilton's bunt attempts are artificially suppressing his K rate?
"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer
"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams
He looks great defensively but we already have one all-defense millstone around our necks right now.
One creative solution might be to pay Stephen Drew, thus bringing the offensive production at SS up to an acceptable level, plug Drew in at the top of the lineup, leverage Cozart as a defensive replacement and utility guy that can spell BP and Frazier, and move Billy down to 8th in the order. I don't know if it's in the budget or the Reds would have any interest. Seems to me that taking the pressure off Hamilton and letting him adapt at a more reasonable pace might be worth the loss of the pick, because he's a big part of the club's short- and medium-term plan. But that may be too short sighted.
powersackers (04-19-2014)
the problem is that drew is not that much of am improvemant (if at all). you have to give up a draft pick and lots of money => not a good move at all
put phillips at leadoff and say to him that he has to get on base... he said his role was to produce rbi´s last year, so now give him a new role (I doubt his obp would rise a lot but it would help to minimalize his GIDP)
votto 2nd, bruce 3rd , rocco/ludwick/frazier 4th (whoever is on a hot streak gets the cleanup position)
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Stephen Drew's career OPS: 777. Cozart's career OPS: 665. Drew's career OBP: .329. Cozart's career OBP: .282. And that ignores the downward trends for Cozart since his rookie year. You leverage Zack's appearances to maximize defensive value. Start him when Leake pitches. If 110 OPS points and a professional plate approach, plus significant pennant race and postseason experience, don't qualify as improvement, I guess such a thing doesn't exist at all.
Damn, I'm a baseball ignoramus. What a great solution. Just tell Phillips to get on base more. "Hey Brandon, would you mind getting on base more?" "Oh, crap, Skip, that's a great plan."put phillips at leadoff and say to him that he has to get on base...
Crumbley (04-19-2014)
If you think Hamilton is going to sustain a .231 BABIP, raise your hand.
Games are won on run differential -- scoring more than your opponent. Runs are runs, scored or prevented they all count the same. Worry about scoring more and allowing fewer, not which positions contribute to which side of the equation or how "consistent" you are at your current level of performance.
Old school 1983 (04-19-2014)
Hoping to change my username to 75769024
Well he does have a 3 games hit streak going and has hit in the last 5 games the Reds have won.
Last edited by Captain Hook; 04-19-2014 at 12:40 PM.
REDREAD (04-21-2014)
Hamilton has a higher AVG than Bruce. I'm starting to think this Bruce experiment isn't going to work......
Red Raindog (04-19-2014),Rojo (04-19-2014)
You don't quite recall correctly. HE didn't really struggle in Billings. He didn't really struggle in the 2012 season and split time between Bakersfield and Pensacola. He did struggle in both Dayton and Louisville though and did hit better in the second half of each of those years.
A few differences....
Jay Bruce isn't entirely dependent on his batting average to have offensive value. Bruce, at least right now, leads the league in walks. Bruce also is going to hit 30 bombs. Hamilton is entirely reliant on his batting average because his walk rate isn't going to be much and he might hit 3-5 home runs.
Bruce has a track record of production at the big league level. Billy Hamilton doesn't have a track record of success above Double-A.
Also, side note about Hamilton picking up switch hitting. He did so back in 2009. He was bunting from the left side of the plate in his high school draft video. The Reds put it in effect after he was drafted and he started swinging from that side that year as well. He is still learning it, but it isn't as some have noted in this thread, something he picked up in Dayton or in Louisville.
- - - Updated - - -
I checked. Batteries were dead. I switched them out.
Sidenote. I'm a robot.
Always Red (04-19-2014)
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