Rangers Josh Hamilton Is Dominating Opposing Pitchers
Comments (1)
Pay close attention to Josh Hamilton this season. If he stays healthy, he's on pace to do incredible things. (Keith Allison/Creative Commons)
Josh Hamilton is one of those rare breeds. He’s undoubtedly the hottest hitter in the league after slugging nine home runs in his last 22 at bats. This recent hot streak gives the Rangers outfielder 18 homers for the season, putting him on pace to hit approximately 93 dingers if we estimate that he plays in 155 games.
Hamilton’s 18 home runs easily exceed the entire Padres' output - just 13 total HRs as a team. That may say more about the Padres than Hamilton, but that’s a mind-blowing statistic nonetheless.
If you thought Matt Kemp was bringing the power (and he is), consider this: Josh Hamilton’s slugging percentage is more than 100 points higher than that of the Dodgers center fielder.
With the season only one-fifth of the way in, so much can happen between now and October. Throughout his big-league career, Hamilton has battled through a series of injuries, as well as issues with drugs and alcohol. His last (and only) full season came back in 2008. Over the previous three seasons, the sculpted North Carolina native has missed a total of 143 games.
Possibly more impressive than Hamilton’s 93-home run-pace, the slugger is batting .402. The season is incredibly long, but the longer Hamilton maintains this lofty average, the greater national attention he will attract. Ted Williams was the last MLB player to bat .400 for an entire season. The Red Sox outfielder batted .406 in 1941. It will be really interesting to see if Hamilton is still flirting with .400 on the 10-year anniversary of Williams’ death (July 5, 2012). But again, it’s only mid-May. We have a long season ahead of us.
Hamilton’s strength, athleticism and lighting-quick bat speed combine to create nightmares for the opposition. In part, thanks to Hamilton’s hot start, the Rangers own the major league’s best record at a clip of 22-12. As a team, the Rangers lead the majors in batting average, runs and slugging percentage, not to mention a few other categories.
On Tuesday, the former first-overall pick drove four pitches into the seats. That’s right. Four home runs! With the Herculean performance, Hamilton became the 16th player in MLB history to slug four homers in a game. He was the first to accomplish the feat since fellow southpaw Carlos Delgado did it on Sept. 25, 2003.
You may wonder…why do pitchers even choose to engage such a dangerous threat? Shouldn't they pitch around him more often? Surprisingly, Hamilton has only walked 13 times, which is nowhere near the league lead.
Although Hamilton is clearly the most dangerous hitter in the league, opposing teams face a catch-22 of sorts since the Rangers provide Hamilton so much support throughout the lineup. Third baseman Adrian Beltre, who bats behind Hamilton, is also having a tremendous season, boasting a .312 batting average and a mid-.500s slugging percentage.
Many pitchers would prefer not to put extra runners on base for the dangerous Beltre. That's an understandable strategy to employ, but there are obvious drawbacks -consequences which we are witnessing every day.
