Minor League Memories: The Billy Hamilton interview (April 2012)
Who tells the story?
Originally published April 18, 2012
For background and context into what this is, read this explainer
Last year, Bakersfield shortstop Billy Hamilton set the world on fire by stealing 103 bases. By accomplishing that feat, Hamilton became the first player in over 10 years to steal over 100 bases and he broke Cincinnati’s organizational record of 98 thefts. Now a few weeks into the 2012 season, the Blaze’s leadoff man aims to become a more complete player and capitalize on his elite prospect status.
Hamilton is off to a fast start this year, hitting .382 (13-for-34) with nine steals. He learned how to work counts and read pitchers last year in Class-A Dayton, which helped increase his walk counts. Hamilton is taking lessons from a year ago and applying them to his game in the California League this season.
“This year will be [learning how] to not strike out so much,” he said. “I’m making the pitchers work more than I did last year, instead of going up there swinging at the first pitch.”
That approach took Hamilton out of an early season slump in 2011 to a strong finish. He hit below .220 in both April and May and hit .318 in the second half. “I showed that I could hit,” Hamilton said. “I ended up batting .278. It was a big jump for me.”
Hamilton’s ability to put hitting together with his speed makes him something special. He attributes his speed to days he spent running around outside with his friends in Taylorsville, Mississippi as a kid.
“We were outside every day in the neighborhood,” he said with a laugh. “Basically [we learned] how to run by running away from dogs.”
The kid grew into a ballplayer, admiring Miami shortstop Jose Reyes, another standout talent who mixes speed and hitting. “I’ve watched him a lot,” Hamilton said. “I try to do things the same way he does, with his speed and switch hitting.”
Hamilton picked up another helpful tool for his career by playing Puerto Rican Winter Baseball. He went 7-for-36 for Ponce but learned more by interacting with Latin American teammates.
“It was good to be around the Latin guys and learn some Spanish because you need to communicate with all your teammates,” he said.
Here’s a fun fact: Hamilton shares his name with former Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Billy Hamilton who set stolen base records at the turn of the last century. That Hamilton played from 1888–1901 and finished his career with over 900 stolen bases.
Bakersfield’s Hamilton has hit the ground running just like his predecessor.
Stupid joke of the week
A blurb about the Modesto Nuts titled A few good Nuts
Where are they now?
On August 21, 2012, Hamilton broke Vince Coleman’s single-season record for stolen bases in a minor league season for the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos and finished the 2012 season with 155 steals. Hamilton stayed hot through the 2013 season. Prior to the season he was ranked as the Cincinnati Reds’ best prospect by Baseball America. I ranked him as the 11th best prospect overall in a 2013 fantasy baseball guide I wrote for another publication — don’t worry, we’ll be revisiting that piece later in this series. He stole 75 bases in Triple-A Louisville and earned a callup to the Reds in September 2013.
Over the next five seasons with Cincinnati, Hamilton had 50+ steals and 100+ hits four times. He finished second in the 2014 National League Rookie of the Year voting and won three Gold Glove awards. Not bad a for a guy who had to convert from shortstop to centerfield because he was blocked from starting in the infield due to Zack Cozart and Didi Gregorious ahead of him.
2018 was his last season with the Reds. Since then, Hamilton has played for eight teams in five seasons: Kansas City and Atlanta (2019), New York Mets and Chicago Cubs (2020), Chicago White Sox (2021 and 2023), Miami and Minnesota (2022). He also signed with the San Francisco Giants in February 2020, but never played with the team.
It’s a mystery to me why Hamilton hasn’t had a consistently great career. He was All-State in football, baseball, and basketball at Taylorsville High School and a top college football prospect at wide receiver with a letter of intent to play college football at Mississippi State University. He’s a hell of an athlete and put in the work to succeed. I looked for typical markers of inconsistency like injury history but he’s never seemed to have struggled with staying healthy. From 2019 on it looks like his main problem was just not getting a lot of at-bats.
I’m not here to editorialize (anymore). He’s back on the Southside now, which made me want to revisit this interview. I always liked him as a player, and he was incredibly kind and personable when I interviewed him. I want the absolute best for him, as I do for almost everyone who plays this sport. He’s on the injured list for the Sox currently so I hope he can recover quickly and return to the Sox lineup. 10 years later, Billy Hamilton is still one of the most exciting players to watch in this game. I want him to show us that he’s here to stay.
Next week
A former Giants postseason hero who ended up saving my sportswriting life a few times.
Previous entries in this series:
Wande Olabisi: From MiLB to MBA
Paul Goldschmidt: Good at baseball
David Chavarria: Coaching since 2001
Didi Gregorius: Good guys wear orange
Matt Davidson: Making history in two leagues
