Kansas City Royals: Billy Hamilton could block Brett Phillips in 2019
No one thought the Kansas City Royals would be making many moves this offseason, but they’ve brought in outfielder Billy Hamilton on a one-year deal. This could end up preventing Brett Phillips from developing in 2019.
It’s not an exciting move, but the Kansas City Royals did add a player this week. They’ve signed outfielder Billy Hamilton to a one-year deal. The rumor was making the rounds last week and now it’s come to fruition.
I’m on the fence with this signing. On the one hand, Hamilton is the exact type of player that the Kansas City Royals covet. He’s fast and a very good defensive player. That’s essentially how the Royals made it to back-to-back World Series and won it all in 2015 – with speed and defense.
Hamilton, along with Adalberto Mondesi and Whit Merrifield (assuming he isn’t traded), have the ability to be real speed demons along the base paths in 2019. That’ll make the Royals dangerous late in close games.
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On the other hand, Billy Hamilton isn’t a good offensive player at all. He has a career slash line of .245/.298/.333 during his six years in Cincinnati. Not exactly eye popping numbers.
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Hamilton is only being inked to a one-year deal, but the worry here is that he could be the Alcides Escobar of 2019. What I mean by that is that Escobar blocked Mondesi and some of the other younger guys from getting playing time last season and in a rebuilding year, those young guys should be getting as many opportunities as possible.
Hamilton is predominantly a center fielder and that’s where the Kansas City Royals would like to slot in Brett Phillips. The Royals acquired Phillips in a trade with the Brewers during the most recent trade deadline and while Phillips needs some fine tuning in the minor leagues, he still will need to play for the major league team as the season progresses.
If Hamilton was brought in to be a mentor or a pinch run guy, that’s one thing, but the Royals gave him $5 million. That doesn’t exactly scream mentor or pinch run player to me. That likely means Hamilton is going to continue to be put at the top of the lineup with little production at the plate.
For what it’s worth – Brett Phillips struggled offensively last season, slashing just .188/.252/.313 in 123 plate appearances. He was decent in the outfield, but the Royals need to see that bat heat up if Phillips wants to be an every day starter.
While I understand the move of bringing Billy Hamilton in, this could end up being a similar situation to what we saw with Alcides Escobar last season. Hopefully, the Kansas City Royals don’t let Hamilton block Phillips for much of the season.