You may have heard of him, but do you know him?
Yesterday, we all got our first glimpse of Garrett Hampson in a Cardinals uniform. His main draw is his versatility and boy did we see that. Didn’t see much else, but he wasn’t the only Cardinal whose bat went into hibernation. I usually wouldn’t take the time to introduce a player we just picked up off waivers, but there’s a game in a few hours and I kind of want to keep the topic simple.
Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, Hampson attracted some attention from scouts while in high school. He did get drafted, but it was a throwaway pick where a team knows the player won’t sign. In this case, it was the 26th round by the Nationals back in 2013. He earned a scholarship to Long Beach State and he was a marginally above average hitter with very little power and a high average. He spent two summers in the Cape Cod league, failed the first time, was the same high average, no power guy in his second attempt.
Baseball America said he was a high-floor player who plays hard with enough tools to contribute to a big league roster. BA said his best tool was his speed and his aggressive baserunning. MLB dot com said he was the quintessential scrappy college gamer. Somehow, this profile convinced the Rockies to draft him in the 3rd round. If the Cardinals drafted a guy with this profile in the upcoming draft in the 3rd round, I would be very disappointed. Scrappy college guy whose best tool is speed?? No thank you.
I suppose to the Rockies’ credit, he became a much bigger prospect than I would have guessed based on what he was when he was drafted. They aggressively promoted him in the minors and he kept hitting. He had a walk-heavy 130 wRC+ in short season A ball in the same year he was drafted in 2016. They skipped him to High A, where he had a 115 wRC+ and stole 51 bases. He walked more than he struck out in AA with a 135 wRC+ so they promoted him after just 30 games.
He had a 107 wRC+ in AAA with a high BABIP and nothing that would really excite me. But in AA and AAA combined, he did steal 36 bases. He got promoted to the majors that year and he played in 24 games, but only got 48 PAs, where he had a 109 wRC+ with a .393 BABIP. He had such a great 2018 that he became a borderline top 100 prospect. The warning signs were there though. Unless you’re really into steals, his minor league history does not really seem top 100 prospect to me.
But what really went wrong is that his high contact profile did not translate to the majors. He struck out 17.9% of the time in Low A, and then never higher as he rose through the system. That did not translate whatsoever to the major leagues. Even in his successful debut season, he struck out 25% of the time. In his first full season, he struck out 26.9% of the time and he had no power at Coors Field, so his profile became a 64 wRC+.
And that’s pretty much his story in Colorado. He had a 64 wRC+ in 2019… and 2020.. and 2021. That’s right, he went full Khris Davis. The Rockies finally gave up on him when he had a 56 wRC+ in 2022. You may be wondering. How is he still in the major leagues if the best he could do was a 64 wRC+? Because the other parts of his game made him a replacement level player.
Namely, his speed, his versatility and his defense. From 2019 to 2022, he stole 50 bases to just 13 caught stealing. He was worth +4.8 BsR per 600 PAs. He was a very valuable baserunner. The Rockies also didn’t have a real spot for him, so they just put him wherever he was needed. He played some 2B, some SS, and some CF. It became clear CF was his best position. He was fine in the infield, but great in the outfield.
The Rockies nontendered him and the Marlins signed him to a minor league contract for the 2023 season. He must have had a clause in his contract that they had to put him on the 40 man or he could elect free agency, because they selected his contract in the middle of spring training. He got sent down at the end of spring training but was quickly back in the majors by April 4th. He got optioned three more times that season, but spent the vast majority of the season in the majors.
He had his best season of his career. He had a 99 wRC+ and 0.6 fWAR in 252 PAs. Ironically, his defense failed him this season. Playing 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, and RF, he collectively was worth -3 OAA at all those positions. At the end of the year, the Marlins chose to move on. It appears he got an MLB contract with the Royals for the 2024 season.
His 2023 proved to be a fluke in more ways than one. He reverted back to being a bad hitter, with a 59 wRC+ hitter. And his defense was better than ever. With a 59 wRC+, he was worth 0.5 fWAR in 231 PAs and 111 games. He was worth +2 at 2B, +1 at both RF and LF, and +5 in CF. And he really didn’t play that many innings either. Overall, he was worth +8 in 566 innings while playing every position but catcher. He even pitched a scoreless inning.
Against all odds, this career 68 wRC+ hitter had reached 6 years of service time, so he was eligible for free agency. He signed a minor league deal with an MLB option with the DBacks, who selected his contract before the season started. He was pretty much as advertised, with a 71 wRC+ and 0.1 fWAR through 18 games and 41 PAs. But they released him in the middle of May. The Reds picked up him and he spent a month on their bench, only getting 19 PAs. He wasn’t good, but 19 PAs.
So that’s pretty much what we’re getting. An MLB vet who can’t hit, but who can field and run the bases. If you utilize him right, he can be an above replacement bench player purely based on his defense and speed. In 2023 and 2024 combined, he was worth 1.1 fWAR in less than 500 PAs.
Oh and it must be said that he should never face a right-handed pitcher. In 1,035 PAs against right-handed pitchers, he has a career 58 wRC+. He has faced left-handed pitchers 678 times and has an 85 wRC+. Look at that ratio. About 25% of the league is left-handed and he faces a lefty almost 40% of the time he’s come to the plate in the big leagues. Which includes his early Rockies years when they didn’t hide him against RHP. In 2024, he faced more left-handed pitchers than right-handed pitchers. That should definitely be the goal.
So the signing makes sense. You can see how he fits well onto this roster in theory. He’s a well below average hitter against LHP, so don’t expect anything too great, but if he can manage to reach his career line against LHP, that is legitimately an average player with his baserunning and defense. If Hampson had a career 85 wRC+, he would have a starting job somewhere. Probably not on a good team, but we’re talking about a bench player here. I’m actually very curious if he’ll get a start in a few hours.
