End of the Line for Josh Hamilton

With the Rangers releasing Josh Hamilton this week, his career is likely over and it got me going through his numbers again.  I've posted plenty about Josh in the past.  He should have been winding up a hall of fame career, the best player of this generation.  But instead he's likely done having played parts of 9 seasons, with less than 4,000 total at bats.  The greatest waste of talent we have seen.  But he leaves us with flashes that I'll always remember.

Of course the moments; 28 homers in the first round of the home run derby at Yankee Stadium in 2008, the 4-homer game in Baltimore in 2012, the should-have-been World Series winning 10th inning homer in 2011, the game in 2010 that left JJ Taylor searching for words in his DMN column.  But at the top of my list are the stretches of pure greatness that rival anything I've seen in 40 years of watching baseball.

Start with the summer of 2010.  This was the stretch where God let us see on full display talent on par with Mantle and Mays.  It was sort of unexpected.  He rolled into June with only fair numbers.  Then over 80 full games and 310 at bats from June - August, he hit .410 with 22 homers, a .720 slugging %, and an OPS over 1.1.  Plus he played center field, ran down anything, and threw bullets all over the field.  I'll always just be glad we saw the full extent of that talent, even for only 1 summer.  In typical Josh fashion, he then got hurt and didn't play in September.  But, .410 for 80 games?  Wow.

Then, one of the weirdest falls I've ever seen.  Healthy going into 2012, he started on a roll and as June began, after 47 games, Josh was sitting at .368 with 21 bombs and again an OPS over 1.1.  He was once again the best player in the league and it seemed that he would top his 2010 MVP season.  The other-worldly night in Baltimore with 4 homers and 18 total bases.  But, that was it.  For the rest of 2012, he hit .244.  The Rangers let him walk and in 2 seasons with the Angels he hit .255 with 31 total homers.  After May of 2012, he fell into a slump and never came out of it.  How does that happen?  Did his abused body just hit the wall at age 31?

At least Josh got his cash from the Angels.  Through it all he leaves with a .290 average and .865 OPS.  They don't do justice to what he could have been.  I like to look at the per-162 game averages and those are impressive for Josh: 32 homers, 37 doubles, and 111 RBI per 162.  I hope he can keep his demons under control in retirement.  For us, we'll have the summer of 2010.

S