David Hamilton is Showing Signs of Life

Pat Murphy has spoken highly of David Hamilton all season, even though he’s been far from the Brewers’ most productive position player. His OPS has hovered beneath .600 for most of the year, and he’s been inconsistent in the field. Still, Murphy and the Brewers have repeatedly pointed to his upside and how he’s impacted the game in smaller ways, such as bunting for hits and taking extra bases with his speed.

Murphy could offer new compliments on Monday night, as Hamilton went 3-for-5 in a blowout win over the San Francisco Giants. Since May 20, he’s hitting .276/.290/.483 for a strong .773 OPS while flashing more of that upside the club has insisted is in the tank. Hamilton’s hard-hit rate during this stretch on non-bunts is 50%, and his average exit velocity is 90.2 mph. Before, those marks were 28.2% and 84.3 mph, respectively.

That’s a small sample of just 24 batted balls, but it might be more than a blip on the radar. Hamilton is swinging the bat harder than he was before. His average bat speed has increased from 69.1 mph before his hot streak to 70.8 during it. He added three more hard-hit balls on Monday, including a double he pulled to the right-field wall in his last at-bat. His bat speed was at least 72.5 mph on each of those three hard hits. Only eight players with at least 100 batted balls this year have a greater separation between their maximum exit velocity and their average than Hamilton, and most of the players with whom he shares that leaderboard are sluggers. He can hit the ball much harder than the waterbug types to whom people tend to compare him; that has always been in there.

“He’s made some adjustments,” Murphy said. “No one has been tinkered with more than Hamilton, and to see him handle it all and do what he’s doing, he knows he’s found a home back where he started.”

Hamilton still isn’t fully calibrated. Five of his hard-hit balls during this stretch have had an expected batting average below .200, because he got under the pitch and hit it too high for an easy flyout. Improving what Murphy refers to as his “flight plan”—effectively, the launch angle of his batted balls—remains a work in progress. Hamilton will fare better on hard line drives than hard fly balls, but hitting more balls hard in general by cutting his ‘A’ swing loose is a step forward.

Furthermore, that swing has looked more well-rounded than it did earlier in the year. A point of emphasis has been keeping Hamilton’s front side from flying open on most swings, which had confined his productive contact to pitches low and inside. Here’s a hard 97.9-mph lineout against the Los Angeles Dodgers last week that saw Hamilton stay on a splitter away.

Hamilton’s first home run of the season in Houston was an undeniable Crawford Box Special; it was hit 94.1 mph, traveled just 343 feet, and had a .140 xBA. But it was another example of staying closed on a pitch slightly away.

“He had a whole front side get out of there type thing going on, and he only handled one pitch,” Murphy said. “Now he’s starting to handle more pitches and more areas.”

Hamilton has also flashed more of his upside in the field. He made a rangy play in the hole against the St. Louis Cardinals last week, along with a diving stop toward second base and an acrobatic leaping catch in shallow left-center.

On Monday night, Hamilton converted a fielder's choice that was more impressive than it looks on video. With the pull-heavy Willy Adames hitting, he was shaded toward third base. By the time the camera cut, he had already taken several steps toward second. Hamilton quickly covered a good deal of distance to reach Adames's hard grounder, gobbling it up with a slide before flipping to Brice Turang for an inning-ending forceout.

He again showcased his range a few innings later at second base, sprinting into center field for a challenging over-the-shoulder catch.

Hamilton must maintain and build on the swing improvements he's flashed lately. His defense still isn't consistent enough, as he made a routine throwing error against the Cardinals before those Web Gems. But within the last two weeks, the seeds the Brewers planted have noticeably sprouted.

“He knows we believe in him, and it’s showing up,” Murphy said.