We have heard over and over that injuries are a part of the game. While true, it doesn’t make it any easier on the players. In Quincy Hamilton‘s case, an injury derailed his 2023 season. A season where he made it up to Triple-A despite just 78 career games in Double-A.
In August of 2023, Hamilton underwent bilateral core muscle surgery. The wild part about this injury is that Hamilton told Astros Future that the injury actually happened during Spring Training 2023. He initially thought it was just a strain and missed a few weeks before going back to full speed practice.
He went into the last Spring Training game, his first full-speed game after the few weeks off, and re-aggravated the injury. He was worried initially, thinking he would have to stay in West Palm Beach and miss the start of the season. They decided to have Hamilton sit out for a week or so before the season started and at that point, he felt he “could play through it”.
He tried to manage it with the strength coaches and ended up playing in 44 games for the Corpus Christi Hooks slashing .268/.361/.445 with 6 homers and 4 stolen bases. Hamilton was eventually promoted to Triple-A where he played in 28 games hitting .223 with 7 homers before the season came to an end with the surgery. Overall, he had just 13 homers and 6 stolen bases, well below his 27 stolen bases the year before.
The day before the surgery, his dad called him and told him something was up with him, noting his limited attempts at stealing bases. “I tried to steal in Double-A a couple of times and I was thrown out. It was crazy, I wasn’t getting thrown out last year with the same jumps,” Hamilton said on the Astros Future Podcast last August.
Hamilton also mentioned he thought his body was breaking down, thinking it was him just getting old. He noted his back was hurting and had to do a lot of preparation just to get ready for the game. When he tried to sprint, he didn’t really have pain but more so discomfort.
At that point, Hamilton knew something was needed to be done. “It was just affecting my play too much. Hurt to do anything with full intensity,” Hamilton said. Hamilton got an MRI and the core surgery specialist knew surgery was needed. Following the surgery, Hamilton took this season to get his body right. After focusing on the rehab, he put his focus on getting in better shape.
“The off-season focused more on cardio and running than just lifting. After the surgery I had to switch up my diet and workout routine so it’s definitely helping me feel healthy and ready to go,” Hamilton said.
Now fully healthy, Hamilton has been able to show off his talents at big league Spring Training. To this point, Hamilton is hitting .333 and already has one triple (had zero in 2023) and two stolen bases. Showing off some of the speed that made him such an intriguing prospect.
“Being around the team is nice. (It’s) cool getting a chance to show what I can do,” Hamilton said. “My speed is definitely back. Dropped some weight so it’s helped with speed and stamina,” he added.
The 25-year-old Hamilton is most likely going to be back in Triple-A to start the season. If he can get back to his 2021-2022 form, the Astros will have another talented outfielder on the cusp of a major league call-up.
