Ex-Red Hamilton told he won’t be on Indians roster
Cleveland has shifted some of the secondary options in center field.
Speedy veteran Billy Hamilton was informed on Thursday morning that he would not be making the 2021 Opening Day roster. Hamilton was in Cleveland’s camp as a non-roster invitee and a candidate for the center field job behind Oscar Mercado and Bradley Zimmer.
Hamilton (30.1, ranked fifth) was one of nine players in baseball with a 30 feet/ second sprint speed in 2018, according to Statcast, but that had dropped a bit the last two years, from 29.5 (ranked 18th) in 2019 to 28.8 (ranked 33rd) last year. He started this spring just 1-for-10 in Cactus League play, and Cleveland felt it was time to move on rather than hold him in camp where his chances of making the roster had dwindled.
“We just felt, out of respect to Billy, because of being the veteran he is and being the really good veteran that he is, we didn’t think it was right to ask him to get on a bus and back up guys if we knew he wasn’t gonna be on the team,” manager Terry Francona said on a Zoom call. “He was a pro’s pro. He’s such a good kid and we’ll certainly attempt to help him land somewhere. That’s why we did it this quickly.”
Hamilton played for the Cincinnati Reds from 20132018.
Mercado has the inside track to the center field job if he can regain anything close to his 2019 form after a disastrous 2020 season. Zimmer is already on the 40-man roster, and a few others — namely non-roster invitee Ben Gamel — could provide depth.
That group could also include shortstop Amed Rosario. Andres Gimenez and Rosario are the two candidates at shortstop. There are long-term reasons to have Gimenez open the season in Triple-A, but that could be outweighed by Gimenez’s fit for what Cleveland is looking for out of a shortstop and that the Triple-A season will be delayed a month.