Cincinnati Reds’ Billy Hamilton is the best base stealer in MLB

The Cincinnati Reds can appreciate Billy Hamilton’s elite skill after a trip to visit the Miami Marlins.

The Cincinnati Reds have the consensus best base runner in all of baseball.  The issue is whether he hits enough to be the best base stealer of the era.  Fangraph’s Jeff Sullivan looked at the duo of Billy Hamilton and Dee Gordon back in 2014 and now it is time to take a different look.

Sullivan called Billy Hamilton the Babe Ruth of base stealers and Gordon a poor man’s imitation.  Gordon barely beat out Hamilton for the stolen base lead in the National League in 2014 and 2015 before Hamilton left Gordon in the dust, staying in second place behind Jonathan Villar of the Milwaukee Brewers last season.  This year, Hamilton is up six steals to Gordon so far with elite speed.

So far this season Gordon has reached base 150 including a single home run.  Of the other 149 times, Gordon has attempted 47 steals.  That means that Gordon attempts a steal roughly 32% of the time he gets a chance.

With nine caught stealings Gordon has gotten on base and not gotten himself out 140 times.  He has 64 runs scored.  That means he scores 46% of the time he reaches base, including 4 triples.

Want your voice heard? Join the Blog Red Machine team!

Write for us!

As far as his caught stealings go, 2 of the nine came against the Reds on July 27th.  Immediately after the first one, Jeff Brantley of 700WLW pointed out that Gordon didn’t let his right hand dangle unless he was going.  Later in the game, the Reds threw out Gordon on a pitch out, but Gordon did steal two bases in the series.

More from Reds News

• Reds vs. White Sox: Pitching preview, prediction, and more
• Reds: Reiver Sanmartin adds another twist to offseason roster construction
• Reds: Signing Tyler Mahle to a contract extension should be a top priority
• Reds: Reiver Sanmartin should get first major league start vs Pirates
• Reds should unquestionably bring Wade Miley back in 2022

The Cincinnati Reds are blessed with the better base runner, but Billy Hamilton must justify his playing time.

Hamilton has been on base 134 times this season including 2 home runs.  Of the other 132 times Hamilton has attempted 51 stolen bases.  That means his rough number is attempting steals 38% of the time he gets the chance or six percent more than Gordon.

With seven caught stealings there were 127 times that Hamilton reached based so far without  getting himself out.  He has 63 runs scored.  The means he scores, essentially, half of the time he gets on base.

That is the  blessing and the curse of Hamilton.  Once he gets on base, he both a better base stealer and a  better base runner than Gordon.  Unfortunately, Gordon consistently gets on base, while Hamilton does not.

Next: Patrick Kivlehan may have bloomed too late.

That makes Hamilton the best base stealer in MLB and the best defensive center fielder in the history of the Reds.  Most of the time his batting skill makes him a competent seven hole hitter.  Too bad he bats lead-off and people judge him for something beyond his skill set, getting on base.