19 Aug

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Billy Hamilton, the former Taylorsville High two-sport star, is putting up some nice numbers at Class A Dayton in the Cincinnati organization. In fact, one of the numbers he has put up is downright amazing: 81 stolen bases. Yes, 81, which leads all of minor league baseball. His other numbers aren’t too shabby: .258, two home runs, 41 RBIs, nine triples, 81 runs in 118 games in the low-A Midwest League. He has struck out 113 times, too high for a leadoff batter, but he’s only 20. He’s learning. Hamilton, 6 feet 1, 160 pounds, has played both shortstop and second base at Dayton. Some reports indicate his arm is better suited to second; his range his unquestioned. Hamilton was a second-round pick by the Reds in 2009 and spurned a football offer from Mississippi State to start his pro baseball career. He was called a “high-risk, high-reward” draftee, code for a player needing a lot of polish. He’s certainly begun to shine. He was the rookie Pioneer League player of the year in 2010 and entered this season as the Reds’ No. 2 prospect (ahead of Ole Miss alum Zack Cozart, who has already made The Show). Hamilton might make Double-A sometime next season — we might see him at Trustmark Park as a Carolina Mudcat — and that’ll be the big test. He’s got the speed to play in the majors. It’s just a matter of whether the rest of his game catches up.

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