T-Rat Talk: Hamilton Making Up for Lost Time

Timber Rattlers infielder and 2019 eighth round draft pick David Hamilton has already had plenty of stolen base attempts in his young professional career, but one stands out among the others.

In the bottom of the ninth inning of the Rattlers’ game against Peoria on June 2, Hamilton singled and was on base as the potential tying run with one out. The Chiefs were clearly familiar with Hamilton’s speed: This was his fourth time on base in the game, and he’d already stolen second base three times and third base twice in the game. Nonetheless, he took off one last time and stole second again.

“I think my most (in a game) before that was either three or four. Six was a lot. My legs were a little sore the next day after that,” Hamilton said.

Entering that day’s games the record for stolen bases in a game in the new High-A Central League was three. When he slid into second base safely Hamilton doubled that mark. His big day gave him 19 steals on the season in just 20 attempts, making him easily the most prolific base stealer on a Rattlers team with a lot of speed.

In the days that followed, however, Hamilton again demonstrated that he’s more than just a speedster: In the final game of that same series against the Chiefs he hit his first professional home run (and also drew three walks and stole a base). Two nights later, in the opening game of a series against South Bend Hamilton homered again and the next night he led off the game with another, going deep on the second pitch thrown by Cubs starter Chris Kachmar. Hamilton is one of just four players since the Rattlers became a Brewers affiliate to homer in three consecutive games, a feat most recently accomplished by teammate Thomas Dillard in 2019.

“I think that’s just how I’ve always been,” Hamilton said of the power surge. “In college I hit my first one, and then I hit like three or four more in the weeks after that. I don’t know. I hit home runs in bunches, I guess.”

Hamilton’s advanced approach at the plate has impressed Timber Rattlers manager Matt Erickson, who related a story from Hamilton’s conversation with hitting coach Nick Stanley a few days earlier.

“He's a guy that likes to make sure he's commanding the zone,” Erickson said. “Swing decisions are very important to him, and making sure that he's making the pitcher work. Then once he feels like he's got that dialed in, he's getting the ball a little deeper and using the field, then he feels like then when he gets into leverage counts he can take some chances and try to catch it out front and add a little pull-side power. Those are the conversations that are fun to have with younger players as they learn themselves and what they can and cannot do, and what they're good at. Different situations present different things for the players, and I love it when a kid kind of thinks through those kinds of things.”

Hamilton’s combination of speed and sudden power allowed him to accomplish a rare feat: From May 28 through June 10 he scored at least one run in 12 consecutive games, easily the longest such streak since the Timber Rattlers became a Brewers affiliate and possibly the longest streak in Timber Rattlers franchise history.

Erickson also noted that Hamilton “went to a big-time school” (the University of Texas) and “has some aptitude.” Hamilton has been waiting a long time to show off both the mental and physical sides of his game at the professional level, however. On January 11, 2019, just before the start of his junior season at Texas, Hamilton tore his Achilles tendon in an accident on a motorized scooter. He missed the entire season and fell to the eighth round in that year’s draft.

Hamilton was finally healthy in the spring of 2020 but had to wait to take the field again as COVID-19 wiped out the minor league season. He eventually made his professional debut for Team Texas in the independent Constellation Energy League, playing 27 games and batting .296 with a .430 on-base percentage and .370 slugging. He went 20-for-20 stealing bases in that league.

“It was good just to be playing the game. Just playing baseball again was awesome,” Hamilton said. “I was facing some good talent, and had some good coaches, Roger Clemens was one of the coaches on that team, it was awesome.”

The CEL season, however, was only a few dozen games. As such, when Hamilton reported to Neuroscience Group Field to start his first affiliated professional season with the Timber Rattlers he had appeared in just 27 games across the last 24 months. Managing his workload this season will be a challenge for Erickson and his staff, who need to give Hamilton opportunities to play while also remaining cognizant of the health of one of their brightest potential stars.

“We have a number of players this year that move around: Hayden Cantrelle plays the middle infield, Korry Howell plays center field and the middle infield, Garrett Mitchell is a guy that plays center field and runs the bases hard and looks for extra bases. We have a number of guys that put an impact on their body playing premier positions defensively where there's a lot of movement, and then when they get on base they're always looking to run,” Erickson said. “Especially when you have guys that are impacting the game in all areas, we definitely have to take care of them and be aware of their legs, especially their lower halves.”

Erickson noted that this season’s modified schedule helps in that regard: Across Minor League Baseball teams have Mondays off this season, a regular extra day of rest to help players readjust to the grind of a long professional season. In 2019 the Rattlers had just nine scheduled off days (plus a three-day All Star break) across a 140-game season, but in 2021 they’ll have nineteen days off and play just 120 games. Erickson has been leveraging those off days to get Hamilton extended breaks, resting him in the game before or after a scheduled off day to give his legs two days to recover.

Hamilton probably isn’t the only player in the High-A Central League whose legs are getting a workout this season, however: After Sunday’s games teams in the league had attempted 845 steals this season, an average of about 1.7 per game, and they’ve been successful around 80% of the time. That’s up from less than 1.3 attempts per game and a 69% success rate for many of the same players in the Midwest League in 2019. Both numbers are at least partially influenced by an experimental rule this season requiring pitchers to disengage from the pitching rubber before throwing to bases.

“I think having pitchers step off encourages more people to run, but it also is helping our pitchers identify other ways to hold runners, such as making sure they’re varying their looks and their holds so they don’t fall into a predictable rhythm before they deliver a pitch,” Erickson said. “I hope they continue the rule. I think if they gave pitchers back the “inside move” and spin move at second base, that would give pitchers a little more of a weapon once players have a chance to get into scoring position, but I like the idea of stepping off and throwing to first.

Erickson also noted, however, that his current group of players would have been likely to attempt to influence the game with their speed even without this rule change. With Hamilton, Korry Howell, Garrett Mitchell and Hayden Cantrelle leading the way, the longtime Timber Rattlers manager said he thinks this is the fastest team he’s ever had.

“Top to bottom, there’s some good speed, plus some guys that have pretty good instincts, and I think that’s even more important,” Erickson said. “It’s great to have raw speed, but if you’re not reading pitchers or paying attention to tendencies of catchers and pitchers then you can’t really take advantage of it. We have some guys that are aware of that, for sure.”

Entering play this week the Rattlers have three players among the High-A Central leaders in steals with Hamilton (24-for-28), Cantrelle (15-for-19) and Howell (10-for-12). A few weeks ago Hamilton told David Laurila of FanGraphs that his goal was to steal 50 bases this season, but that number may need some adjustment as he’s nearly halfway there with about 80 games left to play.

“Fifty was the goal, but I’m just trying to steal as much as I can and we’ll see where I get at the end of the season,” Hamilton said.