Tom Brennan - BILLY THE BLUR

Last night, the Mets continued to do what they do so well: UNDERWHELM.

Now on to my article:

The Mets had a certain boar-loving player leave the team unexpectedly and in a quirky way this week.  Went by the nickname of La Absencia, I think.  Usually just showed up for paychecks.  Made rehab videos.  Loved to shop.  Big into bling and hot cars.  Can't think of his name.

Virtually at the same time, the Mets went out and got a very different player in Billy Hamilton.  

I don't want to get into who they gave up to get Billy.  

That's history.

Heck, I can't tell you if he is the same-speed Billy of a few years ago.  

That's mystery.

But he ain't quite 30, so I would bet almost all the blurring speed is still there.

Last year, he wasn't good.

But in 63 plate appearances in August and beyond, mostly back in his normal enivronment of the NL, he did OK - 14 hits and 8 walks in 63 plate appearances.  DO that with severe speed and great D, works for me.

Playing at the start of 2019, for the first time in his career, in the AL with KCR resulted in stats that were not A-OK, and downright poor: .211/.275/.269.

But in the NL, Billy the Blur was .246/.299/.333 in his career to date, in almost 2,800 plate appearances.  When you steal a base every ten plate appearances, those sub-par stats amp up quite a bit.

Defensively, 55 career assists, just 10 career errors, a + 45, and Jared Hughes basically saying that Hamilton defensively is BETTER than sliced bread.

Juan Lagares got raves - but in his oft-injured career, he had just 35 assists and 19 errors, a + 16 compared to Billy's + 45, and Lagares is 2 years older now and a whole lot slower.

Back to Hamilton:

Power?  Zip.

On base %? Clearly sub par.  

Fast as heck.

Full of energy.

Superior defensively.

He sure was a complete blur in the minors.  In 2012, despite just a .311 OBP, he stole 155 bases in 132 games.  How nuts is that?  That would be great over TWO seasons.  Heck, the Mets stole just 56 last year.

My guess is he is slowing a bit - "just: 56 steals in 72 tries over the past two seasons spanning 909 PAs.  But that still is blurry fast.

He also is a better hitter as a lefty: .249 career vs. righties, as opposed to just .224 as a lefty.  Somewhat reminiscent of Wally Backman, who clearly was a better hitter than Billy, but was also a much better lefty hitter than a righty hitter.

Career-wise, he hit .231 vs. the Marlins, .229 vs the Yanks, .231 vs. the Phillies, .202 against the Braves, and .197 against the Nats.  A bit of a concern, no doubt.  But he did steal 46 of 55 against those teams.  

He hit a decent .255 at home in Cincy, so maybe home cooking is the best way to use Billy.

My play, if I were the manager, assuming he was worth the trade to get him and is not degrading as we speak?

Start him in 25% - 30% of the games, more so at Citifield, and exclusively against righties.  Pinch-run and defensive replacement in the rest.

Especially start him in games where a Mets starter is more prone to contact (for instance, for a starter whose name rhymes with poor jello).  

Just ask Jared Hughes how that goes.  They hit 'em, he'll catch 'em.

It all depends on how much his skills, and speed, may have eroded.  We saw Carlos Gomez last year.  He was a shell of his former peak self and, except for one very dramatic HR, pretty useless.  

But he was 4 years older then than Hamilton is now.   Billy the Blur will likely be retired at 33, unless he finds a major fix to his on base woes.  But he is still young at 29, and presumably still very fast.  

We shall see.