Unless you were very plugged into the Minnesota Twins’ organizational depth chart last year, you may not even remember the name Ian Hamilton. You could have done an internet search for “Twins + Hamilton” and the right-handed pitcher would be the fourth name that came up. Billy Hamilton and Caleb Hamilton accrued far more time on the big league roster. Heck, even José Miranda would have appeared before Ian, thanks to his relation to Hamilton creator Lin Manuel Miranda.
At the end of the season, Hamilton made it into one game for the Twins after they claimed him on waivers from the Philadelphia Phillies in 2021. Even in that one game that will forever appear on the back of his baseball card, the righty was tasked with mop-up duty before they immediately sent him back to Triple-A St. Paul.
He was the Moonlight Graham of the 2022 Twins, but without the Hollywood makeover or the charm of a ghostly pediatrician. Instead of playing with legends in a heavenly baseball diamond, they left Hamilton out to dry in that one-game sample, then sent him away for Sandy León, a third-string catcher.
Now, Hamilton finds himself in the lauded New York Yankees’ bullpen, fulfilling a personal prophecy that never came to fruition in Minnesota. Is he turning into what he could’ve been for a 2022 Twins team that was desperate for bullpen answers?
So far in 2023, Hamilton boasts a 2.08 ERA with 15 punch outs in just under nine innings pitched. He has walked four batters already, but he’s made up for it with a robust 19% swinging-strike rate. To put that into perspective, Jhoan Durán is the nastiest pitcher that the Twins have had on staff since pre-Tommy John Francisco Liriano, and he has a 19.2% swinging-strike rate this season.
Of course, we’re playing with a small sample when it comes to a resurgent Hamilton. Things can change rather quickly, in which case he could find himself stepping off the field and transforming into an elderly man to save a little girl that’s choking on a hot dog. But until then, it’s natural to contemplate what could have been if he had gotten more of a chance with the Twins.
For what it’s worth, Minnesota’s bullpen has been very strong this year. They currently find themselves with:
- The fourth-best ERA in baseball (2.77 ERA)
- The eighth-best strikeout rate (26%)
- The fourth-best walk rate (7.3%)
- And sixth-highest rate for leaving runners stranded on the bases (81.7%)
They’re led by a fire-blazing Durán, Jorge López (who has yet to allow a single walk or earned run), Griffin Jax and Caleb Thielbar. Hamilton could’ve been brilliant last year, but he still wouldn’t push any of those four out of the back end of the bullpen. He would’ve competed with the likes of Emilio Pagán (2.08 ERA, 12% swinging-strike rate) Jovani Moran, who is the only left-handed relief option outside of Thielbar, a now-healthy Jorge Alcalá and the revolving door of taxi relievers that can be interchanged throughout the season to keep arms fresh. It’s possible that Hamilton could’ve been a welcome addition to this group. But it’s understandable to believe he is a class below.
What’s more puzzling is that he didn’t get more of a shot at the big-league level in 2022. The club offered plenty of opportunity to get some fresh blood in their relief corps, especially in the second half. Yet Hamilton found himself toiling away in St. Paul like a scrubby baseball blogger for virtually the entire season.
After all, he was incredibly successful with the Saints last season, showing much of the stellar skills that he’s put on display for the Yankees this year. Hamilton had a 1.88 ERA in Triple-A last season, with a glowing 32.1% strikeout percentage and just a 7.1% walk rate. Even his numbers under the hood suggested he was outclassing his competition. He had a 19.6% swinging-strike percentage, and a 78% strand rate. Hamilton missed bats and got his team out of countless jams. And the Twins repaid him with a single away game appearance where his team was already down big to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Is Hamilton a true difference-maker between a contending club and a stumbling one? Probably not. I’m not going to sit here and dissect a five-game sample size to determine that he could have been some hidden gem for the Twins last year. But I am surprised that he wasn’t given more of a chance to see what the Twins had in him, especially when the club was desperate to find some clarity in the bullpen at various points of the season.
Instead, he’s finding success with their biggest rival, and the Twins are left with the memory of just a single game by moonlight.
