Chicago White Sox: Billy Hamilton is extra fun to watch

Sometimes, a player is just fun to watch. They don’t have to be elite and they don’t even have to be a guarantee to make the team. If you are fun to watch, you are just simply fun to watch. That is the case for the current Chicago White Sox invite, Billy Hamilton. He started this spring training season with the Cleveland Indians but was recently cut but them. The Sox picked him up and he has been a sparkplug.

We don’t know if he is going to make the team or anything like that but we have enjoyed seeing him play. He went from being cut to playing in games in no time. There is a roster crunch so we don’t know his exact chances of being there on Opening Day. Jonathan Lucroy and Andrew Vaughn would both need to be added to the roster if they are going to make the team which means some other people are going to have to go. That makes things crazier if Hamilton is added to the mix.

Billy Hamilton can provide something to an MLB team if given the chance.

Hamilton has been a journeyman in the recent years of his MLB career. He has played in the MLB for eight years. He spent his first six years with the Cincinnati Reds. Following that, he had a few short stints with the Kansas City Royals, Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, and Chicago Cubs. He actually spent the final portion of the 2020 season with the Cubs so the city is fresh on his mind.

He is a 30-year-old player that still has a lot of good play left in him. He is incredibly fast which makes him a threat on the base pads. He showed that in Thursday’s matchup against the Kansas City Royals. He went 1 for 3 with a hit, a walk, an RBI, and one run scored. He isn’t a superstar at the plate but he provides speed depth for sure.

If the White Sox have a guy like this on the bench to come in and pinch-run or take a late-game at-bat for someone who struggled that day, Hamilton might be a good man for the job. It wouldn’t be a bad sight watching him replace someone slow like Jose Abreu in scoring position with a chance to win the game in the ninth inning. We got a small glimpse of that skill in the exhibition.

The White Sox are going to continue taking a look at him throughout spring training. It is up to him if he is going to make the team. We know his slash line isn’t going to be great but we can assume that he can impact the game in other ways. Clearly, he is fun to watch and easy to root for.