Sox pitcher Hamilton healthy, happy after frightening 2019 season
GLENDALE, Ariz. - When the calendar flipped to 2020 last month, Ian Hamilton likely celebrated with more vigor than anyone.
A candidate to pitch out of the White Sox's bullpen, Hamilton and his fiancee were involved in a car accident just about a year ago here at spring training.
They were both OK, but Hamilton opened the season on the injured list with a sore throwing (right) shoulder.
A hard thrower, Hamilton appeared in 10 games with the Sox in 2018 and was poised to be back in the majors again last year.
That never happened, and Hamilton is actually lucky to be alive.
Recovering from a quad injury while pitching for Class AAA Charlotte, he was sitting in the dugout during a June game against Gwinnett and was hit in the face by a line drive.
"It squared me up," Hamilton said Thursday at Camelback Ranch.
Ranked No. 18 on the White Sox's top prospects list by MLB Pipeline, Hamilton had multiple facial fractures and lost six front teeth. He had four surgeries, one of them a bone graft from his hip to hold his new teeth.
"It was an experience," Hamilton said. "It's one of those things where I'll look back at it in 20 years or something and be, 'Well, that was interesting.' I'm not worried about it, I'm not mad about it, I don't feel bitter or anything."
With one more surgery to go, the worst is over for the Sox's 11th-round draft pick in 2016.
Hamilton is working his way back after missing the final four months of last season and his fastball hit 95 mph during a batting practice session earlier this week.
"It feels great to be healthy," Hamilton said. "A lot of time off last year, so that definitely helped. I'm feeling great right now, everything's feeling normal again. I feel like I'm moving in the right direction."
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The White Sox haven't played a Cactus League game yet, they open Saturday against the Angels, but manager Rick Renteria has been thinking about his batting order for quite a while.
Renteria said Tim Anderson and Yoan Moncada are likely to hit leadoff and No. 2, although he's not sure about the exact order.
Anderson led the American League with a .335 batting average last season and Moncada was third at .315.
Adding established hitters Yasmani Grandal and Edwin Encarnacion, along with top prospects Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal (eventually), has put Renteria in a great mood this spring.
"The cast members have changed," Renteria said. "It extends the lineup a little bit more (and) it gives you the luxury of being able to slot them in a particular place on a consistent basis."