Billy Hamilton article

[texasdave]

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp...vkey=news_milb

Billy Hamilton didn't get a true offseason and it doesn't sound like he wanted one.Hamilton, the Reds' second-round draftee in 2009 and second-ranked prospect entering 2012, went straight from stealing 103 bases at Class A Dayton (he became the first Minor Leaguer in a decade to reach triple digits) to playing Winter Ball in Puerto Rico (he speaks more Spanish than most Mississippians) to working out in Arizona (he arrived way too early for Spring Training).

[OGB]

It's always refreshing to hear that one of your talented young players has such a strong work ethic.

[redsof72]

This is a nice Q & A with Billy. One of the biggest questions of 2012 will be whether Billy can continue to build on his momentum from the second half of 2011, or whether he starts out 2012 where he started 2011, production-wise.

As I have said, the jury is still out on Billy's longterm value, but there is no "ceiling" or current MLB player that he compares to. I saw someone say his ceiling was Jose Reyes with less power. Reyes is a great player, but he never stole 103 bases. He is a great athlete, but not the athlete that Hamilton is. Hamilton will likely never be the player that Reyes is, just based on simple odds, but Hamilton has some things that no Reds prospect has ever had. It will be an interesting year.

[RedLegsToday]

Nice article. Sounds like he has the work ethic thing down. Wish I could still eat whatever I wanted and not gain weight.

[Sea Ray]

I would really like to see the Reds organization encourage him to ease up on his base stealing this year. I'd much rather see him steal 50 rather than 100. I see no reason for him to pound his body with an extra 50 SBs. I'd prefer he work on his hitting and fielding. He has nothing left to prove on the basepaths

[Blitz Dorsey]

Great stuff. Thanks for posting.

[Nathan]

Nice article. Sounds like he has the work ethic thing down. Wish I could still eat whatever I wanted and not gain weight.

Run!