1994 Rookie of the Year Countdown – Joey Hamilton

Continuing our Tuesday look at the countdown to the Rookies of the Year in 1994, today we examine former Padres/Blue Jays/Reds pitcher Joey Hamilton.

Hamilton was originally drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 28^th round of the 1988 Major League draft out of Statesboro High School in Statesboro, GA.  Hamilton declined their offer, instead attending Georgia Southern University.  The Eagles have produced a total of 15 major leaguers, including 1985 Cy Young Award runner up John Tudor, and Scott Fletcher.  Hamilton’s decision to attend college paid off when the San Diego Padres drafted him in the first round (eighth overall) of the 1991 Major League draft.  In case you’re wondering, the Yankees had the first pick that year and went with Brien Taylor.  I think we all know how that worked out.  All in all though, it was a very solid first round, with names like Dmitri Young, Shawn Estes, Manny Ramirez, Cliff Floyd, Shawn Green, Aaron Sele and Scott Hatteberg.  And Trinity High School’s own Trever Miller!

Hamilton didn’t sign until late September in 1991, so his first taste of professional ball would come the following season, when he was assigned to A ball Charleston.  There, in seven starts, he went 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA with 35 strikeouts and only four walks.  He gave up 24 runs in 34 2/3 innings, but only 13 of those were earned.  Charleston’s starting shortstop – Manny Cora – had 53 errors that season.   Before the defense could kill his self confidence, he was promoted to A+ ball High Desert.  In nine games – eight starts, he went 4-3 with a 2.74 ERA with 43 strikeouts and 18 walks.  Being an average pitcher in the Padres system obviously says something, so that earned him yet another promotion to AA Wichita.  There, in six starts, he went 3-0 with a 2.86 ERA with 26 strikeouts and 11 walks.

At the start of the 1993 season, Hamilton found himself back in A+ ball, this time at Rancho Cucamonga.  There, in just two starts, he was 1-0 with a 4.09 ERA with six strikeouts and two walks.  He was quickly promoted back to AA Wichita.  This time, in 15 starts, he went 4-9 with a 3.97 ERA with 50 walks and 36 strikeouts.  Still, he would see another promotion that season to AAA Las Vegas.  For his final stop of the 1993 season, he went 3-2 with a 4.40 ERA with 33 strikeouts and 22 walks.

Hamilton would start the 1994 season again at AAA Las Vegas, but would stay there long.  Despite his 3-5 record, he had a 2.73 ERA with 32 strikeouts and 22 walks, and even had a complete game shutout.  The 1994 Padres were not a good team.  They finished with the worst record in the National League at 47-70.  They had three starters that made 20 or more starts – Andy Benes, Andy Ashby, and Scott Sanders.  Those three pitchers combined for a 16-33 record.  More out of a need for help, rather than statistics, Hamilton’s time had come.

Hamilton would make his Major League debut on May 24^th, 1994 against the San Francisco Giants.  He would throw six innings, allowing five hits and three runs, with three strikeouts vs. three walks.  That day, the Padres offense would jump all over Giants’ starter Bryan Hickerson, with Derek Bell getting an RBI single, followed by a three run shot off of the bat of Phil Clark.  Given a 4-0 lead, the only blemish that day was a three-run fourth inning.  Other than that inning, he only allowed one baserunner in the other five innings he pitched.  Trevor Hoffman would come in to seal the deal that day, earning his 11^th career save.  He would make one other start in May, where he would pick up another victory in a 7-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.  Over those two starts, he was 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA, pitching 12 innings and allowing 11 hits and four runs, with eight strikeouts and four walks.

The only place where Hamilton wasn’t spectacular in June was in the wins column.  He would be 3-2 in the month, but his ERA was 1.76 in 46 innings pitched across six starts.  In keeping with the standard he set in the minors, he only allowed two home runs in those 46 innings – a three run shot by the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Tim Wallach in a Padres 3-2 loss on June 20^th, and a solo home run to the New York Mets’ Rico Brogna in a Padres 3-1 loss ten days later.  Hamilton would also add his first career shutout, with a 6-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds on June 25^th.  In addition to the above numbers, he also added 23 strikeouts vs. 13 walks in June.

In July, Hamilton had one bad start in five total that skewed his ERA number, but he still finished with a 3-2 record.  The ERA jumped to 3.62, which wasn’t horrible, but not quite good enough when paired with the Padres offense.  The bad start was on July 10^th, where he allowed seven runs in five innings (including one of Wil Cordero’s four career grand slams) in an 8-2 loss to the Montreal Expos.  He also allowed a home run to Moises Alou, and that was the only game all season where he allowed more than one.  Overall in July, he had 19 strikeouts vs. nine walks.

As the season drew to an end, Hamilton wasn’t quite as sharp in August as he was at the start of the season.  He went 2-1 with a 4.91 ERA, with 11 strikeouts vs. three walks.  His only loss was to the Cubs, where he allowed four runs in 5 1/3 innings.  That was the only start, other than the Expos game in July, that wasn’t a quality start for Hamilton on the season.

Overall in the 1994 season, in 16 starts, Hamilton went 9-6 with a 2.98 ERA, with 61 strikeouts vs. 29 walks in 108 2/3 innings.  He only allowed seven home runs.  His WAR was 3.8, which was good for seventh among National League pitchers (Bret Saberhagen was second at 5.5; Greg Maddux was first with 8.5).  In the strike shortened season, only four other pitchers had more than one shutout – Ramon Martinez and Maddux with three, and Doug Drabek and teammate Benes with two.

Nah, not the same dude.

When Hamilton was promoted that season, his first two victories in April came in a run where the Padres went 9-2.  Remove that from their overall record, and you can see what kind of impact Hamilton had.  The 1994 Padres only had four pitchers with a winning record.  They were Hamilton, the other Pedro Martinez (3-2), Jeff Tabaka       (3-1), and Bill Krueger (3-2).  Literally the only thing to watch Padres baseball for that year was Tony Gwynn’s push to hit .400 (he fell just short at .394).

Hamilton would spend four more mainly successful years in San Diego, compiling a record of 46-38 with a 3.94 ERA, three shutouts and 578 strikeouts vs. 314 walks.  He averaged 206 innings and 32 starts per season those four years.  Highlights include his first taste of the postseason in an NLDS loss to the Cardinals in 1996, and his only World Series appearance in a Yankees sweep of the Padres in 1998.  His WAR in 1995 jumped to 4.5, which was again good enough for seventh in the National League.  His ERA in 1995 was sixth in the NL at 3.08.

After a rather pedestrian 1998 season, Hamilton was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for Pete Tucci, Carlos Almanzar and Woody Williams on December 12^th.  The Padres got the better end of that deal, as Williams alone went 30-28 with 521 1/3 innings pitched and a 4.35 ERA, with 350 strikeouts vs. 164 walks.  They also turned him into Ray Lankford with a trade with the Cardinals.  Hamilton on the other hand went 14-17 in 253 1/3 innings pitched and a 5.83 ERA, with 153 strikeouts vs. 89 walks.

On August 3^rd, 2001, the Blue Jays cut Hamilton.  Two weeks later, he signed with the Cincinnati Reds.  That did not go well.  In his time with the Reds, he went 5-12 in 152 2/3 innings pitched and a 5.90 ERA, with 102 strikeouts vs. 61 walks.  His last major league game was on June 3^rd, 2003 in a Reds’ 9-2 loss to the Blue Jays.  Reds’ starter John Riedling allowed six runs in two innings.  Hamilton came in, allowing three more runs in three innings, actually seeing his ERA fall to 12.66 from 14.09.  He was then sent to AAA Louisville.  He signed a minor league deal with the Padres for the 2004 season, but after a handful of starts at AAA Portland, he was cut, and his baseball career was over.

For his career, Hamilton was 74-73 with a 4.44 ERA, with 894 strikeouts vs. 493 walks.  He had seven complete games, four shutouts and one lone save, closing the door on a 12 inning, 5-3 Reds victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on September 6^th, 2002.  His fifth place finish in the 1994 Rookie of the Year voting was the only award where he ever finished in the voting.

Next week the Tuesday edition will take a vacation, but it will return in two weeks.  It will be a little painful, as we’ll have to look back at Chris Gomez before we start into some names you’ll actually recognize.