Billy Hamilton Biography | Billy Hamilton
Billy R. Hamilton (born September 9, 1990) is an American professional baseball center fielder in the Kansas City Royals organization. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds and Kansas City Royals.
Hamilton holds the Minor League Baseball single-season stolen base record with 155 steals—10 higher than the previous Minor League record set by Vince Coleman and 25 more than Rickey Henderson’s record set on the Major League level. He also holds the Cincinnati Reds record for most stolen bases by a rookie in a season.
Hamilton attended Taylorsville High School in Taylorsville, Mississippi, where he was all-state in baseball, football, and basketball. He was a top football prospect at wide receiver, signing a letter of intent to play college football at Mississippi State University.
The Cincinnati Reds selected Hamilton in the second round of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft.
Prior to the 2011 season, Hamilton was ranked by Baseball America as the 50th best prospect in baseball. That season, while playing for the Dayton Dragons, Hamilton became the 12th minor league player to have 100 stolen bases in a season and the first since 2001.
He finished the 2011 season with 104 total stolen bases and hit .278/.340/.360. Prior to 2012, Baseball America ranked Hamilton as the 48th best prospect. MLB rated Hamilton as the 31st best prospect, fourth-best shortstop and the second-best prospect in the Reds organization behind catcher Devin Mesoraco.
On August 21, 2012, Hamilton stole a record 146th base in his 120th game of the season for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. The record was previously held by Vince Coleman for the Class A Macon Redbirds in 1983. He finished the 2012 season with 155 stolen bases and hit .311/.410/.420.
After the 2012 season, the Reds announced that Hamilton, who originally played shortstop, would move to center field for 2013. Bill Bavasi, the Reds’ vice president of scouting and player development told MLB.com that the move was made for several reasons, including the fact that two other established shortstops, Zack Cozart, and Didi Gregorius, were already on the roster.
Prior to the 2013 season, Hamilton was ranked as the Reds’ best prospect by Baseball America. For the season with the Louisville Bats, in 123 games he stole 75 bases and hit .256/.308/.343.
Billy Hamilton Age
Billy R. Hamilton is an American professional baseball center fielder in the Kansas City Royals organization. He has played in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds and Kansas City Royals. He was born on September 9, 1990, in Taylorsville, Mississippi, he is 28 years old as of 2018
Net Worth, Contract
Billy Hamilton is a pro baseball player who plays Centerfielder for the Cincinnati Reds as # 6. Hamilton was born on September 9, 1990, in Taylorsville, Mississippi. Billy Hamilton’s estimated net worth $1.5 Million.
Billy Hamilton signed a 1 year / $5,250,000 contract with the Kansas City Royals, including $5,250,000 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $5,250,000. In 2019, Hamilton will earn a base salary of $4,250,000, while carrying a total salary of $4,250,000.
Major League career
Cincinnati Reds. Hamilton was called up to the Major Leagues on September 2, 2013, and made his debut on September 3 against the St. Louis Cardinals as a pinch-runner for Ryan Ludwick. He stole second base off Yadier Molina and came around to score on a Todd Frazier double.
Hamilton appeared in four Major League games as a pinch-runner until September 10 when, in the seventh inning, he replaced Shin-Soo Choo in center field and also made his batting debut, going 0-for-2 in a loss at home to the Chicago Cubs.
He got his first start on September 18, 2013, in a Reds road win over the Houston Astros. Playing center field and batting ninth, in his first at-bat of the game he notched his first Major League hit, a second-inning double to left field off Astros’ starter Brad Peacock, and later got his first run batted in, driving in Todd Frazier with an infield single.
For the game (which went 13 innings), Hamilton reached base five times, going 3-for-4 with two walks, two runs scored, one RBI, and four stolen bases in four attempts off four pitchers. Hamilton became the first Major League player since 1920 to steal four bases in his first Major League start.
In his first 10 times on base, he stole nine bases and scored six runs. He was successful in his first 13 steal attempts, before being thrown out on his 14th attempt.
Hamilton became a regular with the Cincinnati Reds in 2014. He had something of a rough start to the season, hitting just .221 through April 27 and being caught in five of his first 15 attempts at stealing.
By around the time of the All-Star break, however, Hamilton’s stats had greatly improved and he was attracting positive attention from a number of sources, tipped as potential Gold Glove candidate for defense and also noted for unexpected power hitting.
On September 2, Hamilton, with his 55th stolen base of the season, set a Cincinnati Reds franchise record for most stolen bases in a season by a rookie, edging out the mark of 54 set in 1909 by Bob Bescher. Despite this, Hamilton was second in Major League Baseball for stolen bases at the time, with Dee Gordon having recorded 58.
For the season, he batted .250/.292/.355 with 56 stolen bases while leading the league in being caught stealing, with 23. On October 23, Hamilton was nominated for the 2014 Gold Glove for National League Centerfield but lost to Juan Lagares of the New York Mets. Hamilton also finished 2nd in NL Rookie of the Year voting, losing out to New York Mets pitcher Jacob DeGrom.
At the opening of the 2015 season, Hamilton joined Vince Coleman (1987) as the only players in Major League Baseball history to steal six bases in their team’s first three games. In the following game, he stole the seventh base, again matching Coleman for a record by being one of two players to steal seven bases within the first four games of the season.
He ended the season hitting .226/.274/.289 with 8 doubles and 3 triples (all career lows) and 57 stolen bases in 412 at-bats. Balls he hit had the lowest average exit velocity of any major leaguer (79.3 miles per hour), and he had the ninth-fastest sprint speed among major leaguers (29.7 feet per second).
In 2016, Hamilton hit a career-best .260 with a career-low 3 home runs and 17 RBIs in 119 games, going 58/66 in stolen bases. Balls he hit had the second-lowest average exit velocity of any major leaguer (80.0 miles per hour), and he had the sixth-fastest sprint speed among major leaguers (30.2 feet per second).
On May 4, 2017, Hamilton stole his 200th career base. He ended the season batting .247/.299/.335 while establishing career bests in at-bats (582), runs (85), hits (144), triples (11), and a career-high in strikeouts (133).
He also went 59/72 in stolen base attempts. Balls he hit had the second-lowest average exit velocity of any major leaguer (78.6 miles per hour), and he had the sixth-fastest sprint speed among major leaguers (30.1 feet per second).
In 2018, Hamilton led all NL outfielders with 12 assists, but struggled offensively all season, hitting just .236/.299/.327 with 132 strikeouts while going 34/44 in stolen base attempts. Balls he hit had the lowest average exit velocity of any major leaguer (79.4 miles per hour), and he had the fifth-fastest sprint speed among major leaguers (30.1 feet per second).
He earned $4.6 million. Reds general manager Nick Krall said he tried to trade Hamilton, but there was no interest on the part of other teams. After the 2018 season, the Reds non-tendered Hamilton, making him a free agent.
Kansas City Royals
On December 11, 2018, Hamilton signed a one-year $5.25 million contract that includes up to $1 million in incentives with a mutual option for the 2020 season, with the Kansas City Royals. On August 16, 2019, Hamilton was designated for assignment.
Billy Hamilton Wife, Girlfriend, Married
Billy Hamilton the MLB center player with the Cincinnati Reds holds the record for most stolen bases, he is dangerous, fearless and handsome, so who is the lucky girl dating Hamilton? Do you know who is Billy Hamilton’s girlfriend? Is it possible his girl is Bengals’ former cheerleader Selina Samano
Billy Hamilton born in Collins, Mississippi attended Taylorsville High School; while in high school not only he played baseball but also basketball and football playing as a wide receiver.
Mississippi State approached him with a scholarship offer, but Billy turned them down and by the time the 2009 MLB Draft took place Billy Hamilton was selected in the second round by the Cincinnati Reds. Fabregas found that although Billy Hamilton barely has one photo with Cincinnati Bengals Cheerleader Selina Samano, she is not shy showing how proud she is of Billy!
Billy Hamilton News
Former Cincinnati Reds outfielder Billy Hamilton designated for assignment by Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals designated former Cincinnati Reds outfielder Billy Hamilton for assignment Friday.
Hamilton, who signed with the Royals in the offseason after being granted free agency by the Reds, was hitting only .211 with a .275 on-base percentage this season in Kansas City. He stole 18 bases in 23 attempts in 93 games.
The speedy outfielder played from the Reds from 2013-18, collecting 611 hits and stealing 277 bases over that time. He struggled last season for the Reds, hitting only .236 with a .299 OBP.
The Royals traded away former Reds pitcher Homer Bailey earlier this season.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WIBW) – The Royals have designated outfielder Billy Hamilton for assignment and called up Brett Phillips to take his place.
Kansas City announced the move on Friday as Hamilton continued to struggle this season. His batting average of .211 and an on-base percentage of .275 are the lowest marks of his career.
Hamilton came to the Royals as a free agent on a one-year deal in December of 2018. The speedster had spent the previous six seasons with the Cincinnati Reds.
Phillips comes back to the majors after hitting .240 with 18 home runs and 54 RBI in Triple-A Omaha this season. He did hit five of those homers in just 12 games for the month of August.
The outfielder did play 36 games for the Royals last year, hitting just .188.
Published:https://www.cincinnati.com
Adopted: Aug. 16, 2019