The spotlight is on Billy Hamilton this season. (Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports)
The biggest concern going into spring training for the Cincinnati Reds was that Billy Hamilton might be overwhelmed. The Reds are counting on the 23-year-old to lead off and play center field.
So far, he’s been one of the pleasant surprises of camp, hitting .269 and a .387 on-base percentage with five walks and two strikeouts in 26 at-bats. Last spring, he hit .192 with two walks and nine strikeouts.
“I’ve been impressed with the way he’s been in at-bats and finished at-bats,” right fielder Jay Bruce said. “He’s gotten deep into counts and made the most of at-bats.”
Bruce knows what Hamilton is going through. Bruce was once the top prospect in all of baseball. With that comes pressure and expectations. Same with Hamilton.
“He’s handled it well,” Bruce said. “He’s a good kid. He’s here to work. He’s here to listen. He’s here to get better. I think a really important thing for a young player is to understand that they don’t have all the answers, but they also have to realize the things that make them successful. I think he has that combination. It’s going to be good for him during the season.
“Everyone gets overwhelmed from time to time. I think the people who let it affect them the least amount of time are the most successful. Being a young player, that tends to build a little more. It’s hard to stop being overwhelmed.”
Hamilton has been asked to do a lot by the Reds. They had him learn to switch hit after drafting him in the second round in 2009. He was switched from shortstop to center field last year to hasten his arrival in the big leagues. None of the changes overwhelmed Hamilton.
“Not at all,” Hamilton said. “Whatever I can do to help them team, whatever helps me in my career and gets me to where I want to be, I’m willing to do.”
Reds manager Bryan Price has been impressed with Hamilton this spring.
“He hasn’t done anything to suggest that he’s not ready to play in big leagues as an everyday player,” Price said. “You know it’s spring training. The thing that’s interesting about spring training is you’ll have veteran players who are hitting .100 and you’ll have young players who are hitting .300. Neither one really tells you what of season either one is going to have.
“Everybody’s going to go through struggles at this level. When his times comes and he’s going through a rough patch, we’ll see how he handles it. But I’m very optimistic he has the makeup to endure the times when he does struggle.”
NOTES, QUOTES
–LHP Sean Marshall, shut down after his shoulder flared up, is set to return to throwing off the mound. “He’s definitely behind schedule but if we don’t have any setbacks, we’re optimistic in that he’ll be ready in that first week or two of the regular season,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “I don’t know how to estimate when he’ll be ready. We haven’t seen him off the mound yet.” It would be challenging at this point in time to start the season on the roster. But we’ll wait and see.” When his shoulder stiffened early the spring, the Reds went the conservation route. Marshall feels good now. “It’s been going really well,” he said. “It’s been an arm-building week. I feel great — no sore after throwing. I’m getting back on track.”
–RHP Jonathan Broxton, coming off elbow surgery, will pitch in a game for the first time on Monday. Broxton threw a live batting practice session Tuesday. “We didn’t want him to have another live session,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “We wanted to give his arm a little bit of a breather. He’s done a lot of throwing.”
–RHP Mat Latos will throw his second live batting practice session Friday. If that goes well, Latos will be allowed to pitch in a game. Latos is coming off Feb. 14 knee surgery and Oct. 10 elbow surgery. He recently began throwing breaking balls again.
–INF Henry Rodriguez was released recently. Rodriguez played briefly in the majors the last two years. He was a .297 career hitter in the minors. “We all think very highly of Henry,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “He’s been in the system a while. He’s always been a great kid. He’s well-liked in the organization. We felt like he wasn’t going to get the same amount of playing time as in years past after coming off the roster.”
–LHP David Holmberg, 22, was among 16 to go in the first round of cut. He came to the Reds from Arizona in the three-team trade that sent Ryan Hanigan to Tampa Bay. Holmberg was slowed after taking a ball off the shin. “We had to skip him and push him back,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “He ended up pitching in that (intrasquad) game. He wasn’t real sharp. Right now, we’re just building up guys ahead of him. Especially with (Alfredo) Simon in there, it was going to be hard to get him the repetitions and get him stretched out. We would have liked to take a longer look at him. That being said, should he go out and be the best pitcher in Triple-A for us, he’s still head of the class if we have any issues with our starting rotation. But he’s got to get regular work to get himself locked in.”
QUOTE TO NOTE: “Everyone’s going to play. That doesn’t mean everyone is going to play evenly. I’d like to have an active bench. I like to get (Skip) Schumaker floating around and getting at-bats. I’d like the same thing for (Chris) Heisey and (Jack) Hannahan, if he’s ready. (Brayan) Pena is going to play regularly because he’s our second catcher. The only way to do that is to give other guys days off. How that plays out, I don’t know. I hate to put something on record that I’m going to give anyone a certain number of days off. I think everyone can anticipate days off.” — Reds manager Bryan Price
