Player to Watch (8/12/08)
Mark Hamilton: 1B, St. Louis Cardinals Farm SystemMLB Comparison: Connor Jackson
MLB Ready: 70/100
Needs to Improve: Speed, increase SB
Upon request, the player that will be profiled is St. Louis Cardinals minor league first baseman Mark Hamilton.
Mark Hamilton, who is in this third season in the St. Louis Cardinals' farm system, is thriving quickly and becoming a top prospect.
One thing that stands out in particular is Hamilton's strong fielding. He has a career .991 fielding percentage and has yet to commit more than 11 errors in an entire season.
In 2006, Hamilton's first season, he began with the State College Spikes of A- Class. With State College, Hamilton drove in 24 runs, hit 8 homers, and had a batting average of .264 in 30 games.
Hamilton then moved up to A ball and finished the 2006 season the Swing of the Quad Cities, now the Quad Cities River Bandits. With the Swing, he produced very similar numbers as he did in the first half of the season. In 38 games, Hamilton had 8 home runs, 11 RBI, and a .254 batting average
His 2006 numbers totaled up to 11 home runs, 49 runs driven in, and had a respectable .258 batting average.
Hamilton then started the 2007 season with the Palm Beach Cardinals where his offensive numbers improved greatly. In just 60 games, Hamilton had a .290 batting average, had 64 hits, 13 long balls, and 49 RBI.
After great production with Palm Beach, Hamilton was quickly moved up to the AA Springfield Cardinals. Since joining Springfield in the middle of last season, Hamilton's numbers have dropped off a bit. In 138 games with the team, Hamilton's batting average has dropped to .246. This season alone he has only 59 hits, 8 home runs, and 29 RBI in 70 games.
Even though Hamilton is struggling, he is in fact a very talented ball player and there is no doubt that he will do well in the Majors. The only problem is that he plays first base, the same position as Cardinals' slugger Albert Pujols. Because the Cards won't be parting ways with Pujols anytime soon, Hamilton will either need to change positions or be traded if he expects to see much playing time once he is called up.
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Thanks, that was great. Mark is a great player unfortunately it will not be with the Cards.
Aaron
http://districtboy.mlblogs.com/
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I feel like I should've heard about this guy, being a Cards fan and all. Hmm. I'm glad I do now, but yeah, unless he changes positions, I wouldn't count on him wearing the birds on the bat. I guess the only cardinals minor leaguers I pay attention to are Rasmus and Motte. Nice work.
--Jeff
http://redstatebluestate.mlblogs.com/
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Well I am not a Cards fan but I can definitely agree with you that it is unfortunate that he will not be with St. Louis. It is very hard for a player to just change positions, especially this late in his career. So unless he has very good natural talent at another position, he will be playing for another big league franchise.
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