Red Sox fans will believe Brewers manager’s David Hamilton prediction when they see it

The Caleb Durbin trade was a huge win for the Boston Red Sox because it brought in a legitimate answer at second base (or third, depending on where Marcelo Mayer suits up), which was a huge question mark all offseason.

However, it also got David Hamilton shipped out of town, which is a win for the sanity of all Red Sox fans. The 28-year-old utility man does a lot of things well, but his at-bats became increasingly frustrating to watch as he limped to well-below-average batting lines in each of the past three seasons.

But that track record isn't stopping Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy from predicting some greatness at the plate for the former Brewers draft pick.

In fairness to Murphy, Hamilton won't have to be much better than league average for his offensive game to reach "a whole other level." Still, that might be a tall ask for a player with a career 77 wRC+ in the major leagues.

Brewers will learn unfortunate truth about David Hamilton that Red Sox fans know all too well

Hamilton (who has spent all but one inning of his career at second base and shortstop) grades out as an exemplary player in the middle infield, especially at the keystone where he's accrued +6 Outs Above Average and +16 Defensive Runs Saved in his career. He's also an excellent baserunner, having stolen 57 bases in just 204 games.

A team like the Brewers — which places outsized importance on quality defense and speed — will surely find a way to extract positive out of Hamilton, who did muster 1.5 fWAR with the Red Sox.

But his struggles at the plate can't be overlooked. According to Baseball Savant, Hamilton would have ranked in the bottom 10 percent among all MLB hitters in the following categories last year had he drawn enough at-bats to qualify: expected wOBA, expected batting average, expected slugging percentage, average exit velocity, hard-hit rate, and barrel rate. That's bordering on "unplayable" territory.

The Brewers have already worked on implementing some changes in his swing, and that franchise is known for getting the most out of scrap-heap parts. It was just last year that they turned Andrew Vaughn around from a first-round bust into a middle-of-the-order threat.

This all just reeks of a special kind of delusion, though. Optimism is fair, seeing as Hamilton mustered a respectable 94 wRC+ during his lone season with extensive playing time in Boston (2024), but if the Brewers acquired him with the hopes that he'll be anything more than a defensive sub or pinch-running specialist, they're asking to be disappointed.