Cincinnati Reds’ center fielder Billy Hamilton overcomes injured calf to continue torrid May

Billy Hamilton looked to be in some trouble when he injured his calf in the Cincinnati Reds’ extra innings loss against the San Francisco Giants.

On May 13th the Cincinnati Reds’ best defensive center fielder ever missed the game after hurting his calf the night before in a 17-inning marathon against the San Francisco Giants.  So far that is the only game Billy Hamilton has missed this month.  The core of Hamilton, Joey Votto, Adam Duvall, Eugenio Suarez, and Scott Schebler all have missed one or zero games in May.

Hamilton, though, has been a monster so far this month.  He has an OBP of .384.  That is nearly 100 points above his career norm.

Despite his calf issue, Hamilton has more steals than the rest of the club combined in May.  He has 11 compared to 9 for the rest of the team.  Only Schebler has more than one among the other players.

It has not been all roses for Hamilton in the steal department, though.  He had 9 steals in the first 12 days of the month before going quiet.  The last two steals have both come after May 17 and he hadn’t had any since May 6.

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Those first six games helped carry him into his best month ever.  There is more than that for Hamilton, though.  He has reached base in all 17 games that he has played this month.

Billy Hamilton’s ability to consistently get on base has made the Cincinnati Reds’ offense dangerous.

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It is always nice to have a player the caliber of Votto on your team, but having someone play like Hamilton has on top of the order makes all the difference.  Votto has 16 RBI in 18 games in the month of May.  Suarez and Duvall also are in the teens in RBIs.

Hamilton is leading the team in runs scored in the month of May with 20 over 17 games.  Shortstop Zack Cozart and Votto are right behind him in both runs and the batting order.  Hamilton’s speed and OBP are finally working to make this offense dangerous.

Scoring ratio is a good stat for a lead-off hitter.  It is the ratio of runs scored to hits plus walks.

Hamilton’s for May is 20 to 33 which is amazing considering anything better than 1 to 2 can vie for the MLB lead.

Hamilton’s version of power has helped the Reds’ offense.  While he does have one home run, it is the four doubles and three triples that are the most important.  An extra base hit puts Hamilton in scoring position immediately.

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After injuring his calf, Hamilton may have had a few down days.  More importantly, Hamilton has kept the offense producing while the pitching staff has struggled.  That has kept an over-matched team in a competitive race.