"Billy Hamilton and other really fast guys"

[RedEye]

Interesting post by David Schoenfield at ESPN. Here's an excerpt:

So who is Billy Hamilton? His minor league résumé so far is more impressive than the résumés of [Vince] Coleman or Otis Nixon or [Willie] Wilson (or Esix Snead!), but less impressive than those of [Lenny] Dykstra or [Rickey] Henderson or [Tim] Raines. As long as Hamilton stays within himself, draws his walks, hits the ball on the ground and hustles out his doubles and triples, he should develop into a better player than Coleman. I think the upside here is the young Wilson, who learned to hit at the major league level. Wilson had the advantage back then of playing on turf, so I don't know if Hamilton will contend for batting titles, but he's not just a speed guy. He can play baseball.

Apparently we've got a young Willie Wilson on our hands.

[RedEye]

"The young Wilson" might sound underwhelming until you realize this is the stat line he put up in 1980:

.326 / .357 / .421, 230 hits, 133 runs, 15 triples and 79 stolen bases

If that's who Billy is, the Reds are in really good shape at leadoff!

[Raisor]

I'd rather Hamilton hit at the bottom of the lineup when the time comed. Don't really want him stealing bases ahead of Votto.

YMMV

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by Raisor

I'd rather Hamilton hit at the bottom of the lineup when the time comed. Don't really want him stealing bases ahead of Votto.

YMMV

Yeah he should steal them in front of the pitcher.

Speed is big part of offense, I prefer the havoc it can create rather than playing station to station baseball... that's what we have the AL for anyway right?

[OesterPoster]

Originally Posted by Raisor

I'd rather Hamilton hit at the bottom of the lineup when the time comed. Don't really want him stealing bases ahead of Votto.

YMMV

I'm hoping this is sarcasm, because I'm having trouble wrapping my head around a legitimate reason why you don't want a guy 90 feet closer to home plate when Votto is hitting.

[DaytonFlyer]

Originally Posted by Raisor

I'd rather Hamilton hit at the bottom of the lineup when the time comed. Don't really want him stealing bases ahead of Votto.

YMMV

Dusty?

[Raisor]

Originally Posted by westofyou

Yeah he should steal them in front of the pitcher.

Speed is big part of offense, I prefer the havoc it can create rather than playing station to station baseball... that's what we have the AL for anyway right?

Put him 7th.

He has a career SB sucess rate od 82 percent. Last year it was 81 percent. Dude was caught stealing 37 times last year.

If he is going to attempt 40-50 SBs a season inthe bigs, sure let him lead off (assuming his OBP is good enough). If he's going to attempt 100 a year, I'd rather he did it lower in the lineup.

Especially if the Reds somehow extend Choo.

[Raisor]

Originally Posted by OesterPoster

I'm hoping this is sarcasm, because I'm having trouble wrapping my head around a legitimate reason why you don't want a guy 90 feet closer to home plate when Votto is hitting.

Because guys on first are already in scoring position when Votto is up.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by Raisor

Put him 7th.

He has a career SB sucess rate od 82 percent. Last year it was 81 percent. Dude was caught stealing 37 times last year.

If he is going to attempt 40-50 SBs a season inthe bigs, sure let him lead off (assuming his OBP is good enough). If he's going to attempt 100 a year, I'd rather he did it lower in the lineup.

Especially if the Reds somehow extend Choo.

Waste of his one main talent on a team lacking that.

[kaldaniels]

Originally Posted by Raisor

Because guys on first are already in scoring position when Votto is up.

I hear that a lot but what are the numbers behind that?

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by kaldaniels

I hear that a lot but what are the numbers behind that?

On this page:


http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...ear=Career&t=b

Personally I prefer pitchers facing Votto from the stretch vs the full windup

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by Raisor

Because guys on first are already in scoring position when Votto is up.

Or Billy Hamilton is already in scoring position when he is on first.

[kaldaniels]

I get the idea, and its true, that more guys on first will score when Votto is up as opposed to a league average player, but to what extent?

As an aside do more players score from first on a double, or from second on a single?

[Raisor]

Originally Posted by westofyou

Waste of his one main talent on a team lacking that.

I dunno. If he gets on base out of the 7th slot, and is able to get himself over to scoring position for the top of the lineup.

If he's leading off, he can swipe a base in front of Phillips and Votto, but they have enough power that he would have scored from first anyway. I'd think you'd be wasting the stolen bases at the top of the lineup more than the bottom.

But like I said, YMMV.

[Raisor]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

Or Billy Hamilton is already in scoring position when he is on first.

Exactly.