2011 Season in Review: Billy Hamilton

Billy Hamilton came into the season as one of the best rated prospects within the system after hitting .318 for Billings in the 2010 season. There were some questions in the offseason about his bat despite hitting well for the Mustangs the year before as well as some talk about his moving to another position (from shortstop, even though he played second base for the most part in Billings).

April began with Hamilton playing shortstop opposite Devin Lohman, which was good to see as the two were flipped the year before despite scouting reports suggesting Hamilton was clearly the better defender of the two. However April began with plenty of struggles for the Dragons shortstop both offensively and defensively. At the plate, he would hit just .212/.287/.294 with 23 strikeouts. He did however steal 18 bases in the month. Defensively Hamilton saw his error totals pile up, and though he was showing off elite range he was also showing that he had a ways to go making the routine play.

In May things didn’t get much better for the Mississippi native. The good side of things was that he added 23 more steals to push his season total to 41 through the first two months where he actually had more steals than most teams in the league. On the bad side of things his May slash line was just .218/.298/.317 with 31 strikeouts in the month. Defensively he still had error problems as well as indecisiveness on certain plays.

June saw some improvements in aspects of his game. Changes were being made to his throwing motion to help improve his accuracy on his throws and it began reaping benefits in fewer errors. Offensively Hamilton raised his average to .252 for the month, a big improvement from previous months, but his .269 OBP on the month was by far the worst due to just three walks in the month to go with 25 strikeouts. Adding 14 more steals and just one caught stealing put his season total at 55 for the first three months.

July was a breakthrough month offensively as Hamilton put up a .333/.406/.421 line to go along with 14 walks and just 20 strikeouts. The improved plate discipline went hand in hand with improving his offensive output. He continued to show improvements defensively as well as his throws continued to become more consistent. His 20 steals on the month pushed his season total to 75 and a clear minor league lead on the competition.

Hamilton came down the stretch of August/September with 34 games where he hit .333/.395/.401 with 15 walks and 34 strikeouts.   To top that offensive output he also added 28 steals over those final games to push his season total over 100 to 103, which was the first time any minor leaguer had gone over the 100 steal mark in 10 season.

Overall Thoughts

There was a mixed bag for Billy Hamilton in the 2011 season. I think that some of his weaknesses at the plate were exposed by the better pitching of the league he saw in 2011. His lack of power really showed as well. Defensively, he showed that he still has a ways to go, but also flashed enormous upside with his great range and ability to make plays that other guys simply can only dream of. On the other side, his drastic improvements at the plate in the second half show his resilience and willingness to make adjustments at the plate. I think his prospect status took a slight step backwards from where it was to start the season and that he is going to take time to move up the ladder.

Stats

Splits

Spray Chart

Video

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