Cincinnati Reds’ Billy Hamilton has become an offensive force in May after slow April start

Billy Hamilton was in danger of losing his lead-off spot for the Cincinnati Reds before the calendar turned to May.

After an April that saw Billy Hamilton get on base at a rate below.300 for the Cincinnati Reds, something needed to happen.  Hamilton was doing his usual great job of stealing bases, but he wasn’t getting on base frequently enough to score the runs that the Reds needed.  When the calendar turned to May, Hamilton was suddenly a new man.

In the first fourteen games of May, Hamilton batted .328 leading to 16 runs scored.  Hamilton also had 20 hits and walked five times.  Getting one base almost twice per game allowed Hamilton to steal nine bases, in the first six games prior to twisting his ankle .

All of this success can be seen in one number.  After having the magic .300 OBP number remain elusive, for the first fourteen games of May Hamilton was getting on base at a .379 clip.  This is the production that everyone has been waiting on from Hamilton.

Hamilton began to hit for power even more suddenly than his change in OBP.  Of his 20 hits, six were extra base hits.  He had a home run, two doubles, and three triples at GABP in the first fourteen games of the month and just singles on the road.

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While all of this has been going on, the Reds have gone 8-6 with Hamilton playing his usual great defense.  This is what the Reds have wanted to see for years.  The plan has been for Hamilton to lead both the offense and the defense.

The Cincinnati Reds haven’t seen a month like this before from Billy Hamilton in his young career.

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Last year Hamilton had a decent May, but it was nothing compared to this.  He batted .259 six steals and 3 walks.  He has already eclipsed that this May.

Last June, which some argue is his best month to date, Hamilton batted .273 with an OBP of .319.  Hamilton had 9 steals and 11 runs.  In fourteen games this May Hamilton has met those numbers.

Last July when Hamilton had 16 steals, he didn’t have a great month overall.  He batted .250 with an OBP of .299.  He scored 15 runs in the month.

For his career his runs created has been between 32 and 64.  Those numbers go with a career batting average of .248 and OBP of .297.  Each year Hamilton gets one more steal and struggles to make it through the whole season.

Heading into the season, the expectation was that Hamilton would take a small step forward.  The thought was that he could last 150 games, which would raise his stolen base number to 67.  His projected runs created number was still only 59, so there was no expectation of what Hamilton has done in May.

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Hopefully Hamilton can keep this up.  Every year the fans want to see Hamilton be a truly successful lead-off hitter.  If it doesn’t happen this year, Hamilton may be with another team for2018.