Josh Hamilton homers AGAIN

by killa3312 on Apr 18, 2007 8:53 PM EDT

Good lord, what's gotten into the kid? Clearly, he's a natural talent and has a lot of god given ability, but he never showed this with the Rays (save his debut with Princeton) and looked flat out average with Hudson Valley last season.

What's funny is, this could go down as one of the bigger gaffe's in recent memory and, honestly, you can't really blame the Rays for letting him go. He never showed any indication that he'd do what he's down thus far.

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quicker than me

Was just about to post a diary about Hamilton myself....can't take credit for it but somebody on EPSN just referred to him as "The Natural" and after watching his effortless opposite field HR tonight, well I can't agree more. Hope he hits .300 with 25 bombs this year.

Curtis Granderson fan

by jrose643 on Apr 18, 2007 8:54 PM EDT reply actions

I say...

he levels out some over the course of the year but finishes hitting .270/28/94... AND wins NL Rookie of the Year

by bryanmurphy2005 on Apr 18, 2007 9:04 PM EDT reply actions

Hamilton

the cliche (sorry can't do the accent on the e) holds true...he truely did need a change of scenery...I'm really happy for him and yet pissed that a guy in my rotisserie league picked him one pick before I was going to steal Josh...I'd have the best crop of rookies out there...Delmon, Gordon, Duncan (counts as a rookie in our league), Dukes...Man...I'm still a little bitter...

by bunner19 @ Minor League Ball on Apr 18, 2007 9:50 PM EDT reply actions

Just

think how good he would be now if he hadnt had all those problems

by nyy601 on Apr 18, 2007 10:56 PM EDT reply actions

reverse cliche

a reverse of the old smalltown ballplayer makes it big then watches a promising career go down the drain. maybe it'll end up better that he got his demons out before making it big.
And maybe jeff allison tosses a perfecto in three years.

by waka25 on Apr 18, 2007 11:37 PM EDT reply actions

toot toot toot

<<<What's funny is, this could go down as one of the bigger gaffe's in recent memory and, honestly, you can't really blame the Rays for letting him go. He never showed any indication that he'd do what he's down thus far.>>>

http://www.minorleagueball.com/story/2006/12/9/165039/742

specifically--> Making some poor roster decisions to lose Josh Hamilton is another miscalculation IMO.

But if you want to read the rest - there is some crow eating to be had :)))

by pedrophile on Apr 18, 2007 11:57 PM EDT reply actions

Priceless

That's one of the better "I told you so's" i've read in a long time. I'm FULL ON pulling for this kid to succeed, and what i've witnessed so far tells me he is well on his way, but I have to be one of those pessimists who say - it's a long season.

by scstrato on Apr 19, 2007 11:56 AM EDT up reply actions

Cubs get in on the gaffe-dom here, too

They had him for all of ten minutes or so, remember.

by Transmission on Apr 19, 2007 12:32 AM EDT reply actions

why would the cubs need him

don't they have Jock Jones?

by pedrophile on Apr 19, 2007 12:43 AM EDT up reply actions

hm

pretty sure it was just a comment on how the cubs were the middle-man of sorts.

by god allah star on Apr 19, 2007 1:26 AM EDT up reply actions

for sure

I was just having a little fun :)

by pedrophile on Apr 19, 2007 2:05 AM EDT up reply actions

ah

maybe if i paid a little more attention to the spelling of his name i would've known

i'm slow

by god allah star on Apr 19, 2007 3:29 AM EDT up reply actions

no harm no foul

by pedrophile on Apr 19, 2007 1:03 PM EDT up reply actions

I am fairly sure.....

that the Reds paid them to make the pick and the Cubs agreed to do it before the players name was told so that way the Cubs could not take the pick for themselves. Its not like the Cubs made the pick on their own intuition then the Reds decided to pay for his rights....

http://www.redsminorleagues.com

by dougdirt on Apr 19, 2007 2:27 AM EDT up reply actions

actually,

i'm pretty sure the cubs picked him and then traded him to the cubs for cash

by god allah star on Apr 19, 2007 3:34 AM EDT up reply actions

errrrr,

to the reds.

bah.

by god allah star on Apr 19, 2007 3:34 AM EDT up reply actions

"Mantle"

was thrown around from some people I talked to back in 2000...so I am not surprised really...

by daveh33 on Apr 19, 2007 2:16 AM EDT reply actions

Hamilton is looking great...

whenever he's at the plate, he has an effortless appearance to himself. I hope he realizes his potential after everything he has gone through. As of right now, he's producing on talent alone. How many other ballplayers can take a 5 year layoff from professional ball and start hitting like this? Granted it may be streaky and he could collapse, but it's a great story that will hopefully end well...

Lincecum is the truth!

by JT12340 on Apr 19, 2007 3:57 AM EDT reply actions

"he's producing on talent alone"

I couldn't disagree more. The most impressive thing about his play so far is the vast improvement in plate discipline that he's shown. The HR's are kind of expected for me because he's an absolute freak athlete and he's got massive raw power. The BB/K ratio and the way he works counts and consistently fouls off nasty offspeed stuff when behind in the count is what has made him a legitimate star so far in the majors.

I don't see how he's going to be any more streaky than any other player in baseball. The only major concern at this point is how his body is going to hold up playing in a 162 game season after not playing consistently for about 5 years. He's already battled minor injuries for the last year which held him out of games last year in the Rays system and even this spring. If he can stay healthy, we could be looking at the NL ROY.

Rays in '08....

by youALREADYknow on Apr 19, 2007 11:11 AM EDT up reply actions

yep

totally agreed. He has shown great plate discipline to go with his talent.

I'm also concerned with his health but unless he plays every day he should be fine. The situation with Freel, Griffey, and him should help all three of them stay healthy.

by pedrophile on Apr 19, 2007 1:03 PM EDT up reply actions