Chicks Dig The Long Ball

A star was traded from the National League to the American League this off season. These are his rankings in the American League: first in RBI’s, second in HR’s, first in total bases, fourth in batting average, second in slugging percentage, and second in hits. This is not a surprise to anyone around baseball. The surprise is that it is not a 25 year old Venezuelan 3b/1b for the Detroit Tigers, He is Josh Hamilton. He sits in center-field for the Texas Rangers, of all places. He is on pace for 36 HR’s and 180 RBI’s. If he only gets 36, as long as he’s healthy, it will be a disappointment because of the advantage he will have because of the heat in Arlington. As a general rule most baseball players hit more home runs during the hot summer months but it is even more pronounced in Arlington.

His batting practice exploits are becoming legendary in Texas and he is now connecting on those tape measure shots in the game. In the opener of the Astros-Rangers Hamilton hit a ball so hard and with such little effort that the only response that could be elicited from the Rangers dugout was laughter… that’s right all they can do is laugh in disbelief. That was not the most impressive moment of the day from Hamilton, it came in the seventh inning in a one run game and with Micheal Young on base. Hamilton ripped an RBI double down the line, it was a routine double there was no bad hop and the play was played correctly. Hamilton however would not settle for a double, so this 6 foot 5 250 pound thoroughbred decided to stretch his legs. He beat it standing up he thats only a play guys with elite speed make, and thats only a play one Ranger makes standing up. The guy turning a double into a stand-up triple is the guy who just hit one five hundred feet.

The natural talent that this man possesses would illicit poetry and songs alike if he was playing for one of the big teams. I mean we were supposed to just accept that Yankee prospects are stars before they even play because of the attention they receive and Josh Hamilton is getting very little recognition. The beauty for the Rangers is that they can keep him if they want. He has only one year of major league service so he is controllable and after that the Rangers have the money to spend to keep him. For those of you who have not seen him yet, you will in center field at Yankees Stadium in July.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS