Minnesota Twins: Why the Twins should take a flier on Billy Hamilton
The Minnesota Twins should consider bringing in the veteran, who’s defense and speed would be a huge boost to the lineup until Byron Buxton returns.
The Minnesota Twins have found themselves bitten hard by the injury bug in recent weeks. While Nelson Cruz got good news on his injured wrist, the Twins haven’t been as lucky when it comes to Byron Buxton and his shoulder.
Although we should get an update soon on when the center fielder should be back in the Twins’ lineup, there’s no denying that there is just something missing with Buxton on the shelf. As a team that has relied solely on its power that has generated a franchise-record 240 home runs, they have just an MLB-low 25 stolen bases.
The Twins also lose something defensively by moving Max Kepler to center field. While the platoon of Jake Cave and Marwin Gonzalez has done fine, it would be nice to move Gonzalez elsewhere in the field while also limiting the mistakes that Cave has made that could prove to be fatal in October.
It would seem as if the chance to upgrade the Twins outfield depth has come and gone with a quiet trade deadline, but a new opportunity opened up to fix these issues when the Kansas City Royals designated Billy Hamilton for assignment this past week.
Hamilton would add speed to the Twins’ lineup
As mentioned in the previous slide, the Twins are in desperate need for some speed when Buxton isn’t in the lineup. Minnesota has already tried to address this issue as they traded for Seattle Mariners prospect Ian Miller a couple of weeks ago, who has stolen 237 bases during his minor league career.
With a high success rate of 82 percent, adding Miller could be a sneaky-good move if the Twins get into the postseason. The bad news is that Miller has never played in an MLB game, something that Hamilton has done 783 times during his seven-year career.
In those games, Hamilton has been an absolute terror on the basepaths for opposing teams. The 28-year old has racked up 295 stolen bases in 363 attempts (81.2% success rate) during his major league career and with the added bonus of doing it at the major league level, adding Hamilton would make sense.
For as great as the Twins’ lineup has been, this would be a huge boost even when Buxton returns from the injured list. The possibility of having a speedy Hamilton on the bases along with Buxton could raise havoc in late-game situations and could help the Twins manufacture more runs as they’re needed down the stretch.
Hamilton would ease the sting of losing Buxton in the outfield
Another positive in bringing in Hamilton is his defensive ability. While he has never won a gold glove, he does bring a flashy glove into the outfield thanks to his uncanny speed. Over the course of his career, Hamilton has put together a UZR, which measures how many runs a player saved or gave up on a given play, of 54.1.
That overall number is impressive and while he hasn’t been the elite defender he was during his time with the Cincinnati Reds (11.3 UZR in 2014 and 11.9 in 2016), he still has been able to get the job done with an 8.6 UZR in 2019.
In case you were wondering, that number stacks up well compared to Buxton. who owned a 8.6 UZR himself prior to injuring his shoulder.
With the Twins pitching staff being far from a lockdown unit, their defense is going to be under a huge spotlight in the coming weeks. If Buxton isn’t ready to go or the Twins want to use a late-game replacement for either Eddie Rosario or Kepler, it wouldn’t be a downgrade to have Hamilton come in and help the staff out.
Hamilton adds another veteran presence to the Twins
Finally, this all comes down to experience. With Buxton out of the lineup, the Twins have been forced to use Gonzalez, who does everything well, but has value outside of the outfield, and Cave, who seems to make a mental error just about every other game.
While Gonzalez isn’t going anywhere, it would be an upgrade for Hamilton to come in and send Cave back down to Rochester. With plenty of MLB and postseason experience, Hamilton could be the fourth outfielder the Twins need and be able to still use Gonzalez elsewhere. That type of player gives the Twins plenty of value even when Buxton returns.
Granted there are downsides with Hamilton, including having the worst offensive performance of his career in 2019. His .211/.275/.269 slash line this season isn’t going to replace the impact Buxton had at the plate, but that’s OK considering the rest of the Twins’ lineup is completely stacked.
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At this point, Hamilton would be a low-risk, high-reward investment for a team looking to fix its flaws before the postseason. While there’s a chance it might not work out, the Twins have nothing to lose by making a push to acquire Hamilton and let him play to his strengths.