Josh Hamilton's Defense

[Gregory Pratt]

How would you rate his defense? And what do the statistics suggest his defense should rate?

[Gregory Pratt]

I've actually got someone arguing with me that Hamilton is not a five-tool player.

[redlegsfan21]

He's a very good centerfielder, covered a lot of ground, has a rocket for an arm. Of course, this is just from watching the kid play, not from statistics. I don't like any of the defensive statistics, I go by what I see.

[NickU]

i don't know about the stats, but he's certianly one of the most athletic players in the league

[NickU]

and like he said, I just go by what I see

[Old Sweater]

How would you rate his defense? And what do the statistics suggest his defense should rate?

Good to see you fending for a player that don't have a halo over his head that doesn't play for the Angels.

As redlegsfan21 said it is hard to judge a players fielding/throwing/ or baserunning ability unless you see him a lot like I got to see Larry Walker.

IMO the baserunning and GG caliber fielding ability the player is more or less born with it like the baserunning of Walker(sixth sense I swear) or the natural good routes a Andruw Jones runs to the ball just like he floats there without a wasted step and makes it look so darn easy compared to a Eric Byrnes who had good paper stats last year. You can work and improve your D like Holliday but I don't believe he will ever be smooth enough to impress the managers and coaches who do the GG voting. The arm and speed you're definitely born with and can only increase it 1-3% with training and technique through your baseball career.

The only 5 tool ratings I would believe from anyone would be a poll conducted of players/coaches/managers who couldn't vote for their own players or teammates.

Here is a couple of links to see how Hamilton stacks up with the rest of MLB CF'ers and you may have a hard time in your D debate with his paper stats which really don't show the whole story. Plus Hamilton doesn't quite have a full year of service in so it is hard to rate him 5 tool at this point of his career.

Bottom link is the best chart and the top one from BR has the league averages.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_2008_field.shtml

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/fielding?groupId=9&season=2008&seasonType=2&split=84&sortOrder=true&sortColumn=fieldingPct

edit: out of the range/zone/fielding % I like to take FP+Zone and throw range out of the window but as all D stats you are left in the dark unless you get to see the player a lot or read what his peers say about him after 3 or so years.