Hamilton-Choo comparison

[cincrazy]

When the Reds let Shin Soo Choo walk, many people, including Reds fans and the national media, wondered if the kid Billy Hamilton had what it took to replace Choo and his production from 2013. Choo came off a phenomenal year, and was one of our two best offensive players last season. However, that shot his value up, and alas, he's wearing a different uniform this season.

Here are the current 2014 stats for the two, as of 7/9/2014:

Choo has a line of .250/.373/.391 for a .765 OPS. He has an OPS+ of 113, 14 doubles, one triple, 9 homers and 31 rbi, 3 sb, and a .9 WAR. And defensively, he's been moved to left field, where he's posted -8 DRS and a -8.8 UZR. Not to mention he's working on a 7 year, $130 million contract that's in its first year. As he continues to age, I expect that to be a huge albatross towards the end.

Now, how has Billy held up? He's hitting .285/.319/.420 (yes, he's slugging almost 30 points higher than Choo) with a .740 OPS and a 104 OPS+. He has 5 homers to go with 36 rbi , 37 SB, 18 doubles, 5 triples and a 2.5 WAR. Not to mention he's been fabulously handling his transition to center field.

Take away a rough first month for Hamilton, and this comparison isn't even close. I thought from the get-go that signing Choo long term would be a mistake, but I honestly felt that Billy would suffer some big time growing pains this season and that Choo would outperform him by a mile, leaving a huge hole in the Reds lineup. So far, Billy has been better on defense, on the basepaths, he's hit for more power, and his patience and ability to work the count have been much better than I expected. It's unlikely he can ever have the eye that Choo does or the OBP, but when you factor in the rest of his numbers, he's a better player RIGHT NOW than Choo.

And that, my friends, I could have never imagined.

[Spitball]

This is an interesting post. Thanks!

[VR]

Billy is doing much better than I expected, Choo much worse. Can't be a person alive that said otherwise.

[Tom Servo]

Where have you gone junkhead, our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you

[BluegrassRedleg]

Year One of this has been MUCH better than I ever imagined it could be. But I thought the Reds made a great call when it came to not giving Choo the 7+ years he was looking for. That was a no-brainer, although I thought it was going to sting a little bit this year.

[Wonderful Monds]

Where have you gone junkhead, our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you

[villain612]

2014 Salaries

Choo: $14 million
Hamilton: $500k

[tomnuetten]

Take away a rough first month for Hamilton, and this comparison isn't even close.

I agree with everything and not signing choo was definetly the right choice, but this sentence doesn´t make sence. you can´t take a rough first month away. if you do take choo´s rough weeks and playing with injuries away it would be a different story aswell.
Hamilton has been great, he can or is already evolve/evolving into a fan favourite and is pretty cheap.

[OGB]

I think there were a lot of misconceptions about Choo. He OPS' d over .885 once in his career. That was in under 100 games. That is not a twenty million dollar man. Particularly at that age.

[UK Reds Fan]

To give Walt some credit (as he gets called "sleeping like an old man on the job").

- Not signing Choo will prove to be a good idea as 7 years progress..and Hamilton doing the job he's doing is really fortunate for the Reds.
- Not signing Arroyo as well has proven to be a good idea and yet it is not Cingrani that has made that a good decision but Simon...which is more unheard to me vs. Hamilton.

Now if we can ever get Bailey and Votto to perform to their highest paid players on roster expectations...we'll be on rolling better than we are.

[swaisuc]

I think there were a lot of misconceptions about Choo. He OPS' d over .885 once in his career. That was in under 100 games. That is not a twenty million dollar man. Particularly at that age.

Pretty ridiculous bar IMO. 13 players in all of baseball OPS'd more than he did last year and only 5 that played as many games as he did. That list is Trout, Votto, Cano, CDavis, and Goldschmidt. Those guys all dwarf Choo's salary or will be any day.

I still prefer Choo in left by a lot over Ludwick, but to the point of the OP, CF has worked out great so I am happy. Anything that might have robbed us of this Billy Hamilton start is a negative in my book.

[jojo]

I agree with everything and not signing choo was definetly the right choice, but this sentence doesn´t make sence. you can´t take a rough first month away. if you do take choo´s rough weeks and playing with injuries away it would be a different story aswell.
Hamilton has been great, he can or is already evolve/evolving into a fan favourite and is pretty cheap.

Take away Choo's injury as well if one wants to chop up Hamilton's sample. Choo has hopped on one leg for most of the first half and still has graded out as +16 runs/600 PA better than league average offensively. The rumors of Choo's demise have been greatly exagerrated. If one looks at the guy objectively, one actually has to admire his makeup as that's actually the mark of a warrior beast heart.

[RedFanAlways1966]

Funny thing. I heard last night that Hamilton's hamstring has been bothering him all season. Been hurting since Spring Training. Has to have it iced after every game. So I guess he has played injured all year too. Of course there are different severities of injuries. But just want to throw this out there to make sure the Choo defense team realizes Hamilton has been bothered this season as well.

[Sea Ray]

Take away Choo's injury as well if one wants to chop up Hamilton's sample. Choo has hopped on one leg for most of the first half and still has graded out as +16 runs/600 PA better than league average offensively. The rumors of Choo's demise have been greatly exagerrated. If one looks at the guy objectively, one actually has to admire his makeup as that's actually the mark of a warrior beast heart.

I don't know what you're referring to. All this OP's numbers include the entire season. He didn't cherry pick certain months or as you put it "chop up Hamilton's sample".

[AmarilloRed]

Durability was always a concern with Choo. Besides last year, he simply hasn't been able to stay healthy for a full season very often.