Sundays are a great day for taking stock of your fantasy team. At this point, you’ve made your pickups, you’ve made your choices on spot starters and now you’ve got nothing left to do but sit back and see how things shake out. Maybe you’ve got a chance to flip a few categories at the last second, but generally speaking – you know the strengths and weaknesses of your team. Maybe you’re short on speed after chasing beefy corner infielders and outfielders on draft day. Maybe you punted average, hoping for some good bounces in your BABIP. Whatever choices you made, at this point in the season, it’s hard to find an asset that can help you in all of those categories – but I bring one such name to you today…

Let’s dive in to the Red Sox’s latest injury fill-in: David Hamilton.

David Hamilton – 2B/SS – BOS – 48% Yahoo, 33% CBS

It took injuries to Trevor Story, Vaughn Grissom and Romy Gonzales, but David Hamilton is now the one holding down the starting shortstop role for the Red Sox and the initial indications are that he’s a player worth a deeper look. Hamilton is a speedster, first and foremost. During his time in MiLB, he carried a pace of 73 stolen bases per 600 plate appearances and he wasn’t bring a wet noodle to the plate either, with a 16 home run pace and .251 average.

He’s managed to find an even higher level over the past month, hitting .322/.358/.522 with 10 stolen bases, three home runs and a .200 ISO since May 15th, and he’s now being rewarded with frequent placement in the 2-hole of Alex Cora’s lineup card. But even with his recent power binge, his exit velocity is significantly below average at just 87.9 MPH, which points to some regression despite his ability to frequently square up the ball (40.2% Sweet-Spot%).

With his performance so far and the Red Sox’s other injured infielders still requiring an extended stay on the Injured List, Hamilton has likely earned himself a relatively long leash even if he does fall back to earth a bit. And with his versatility, he should be able to find himself in the lineup more often that not at either SS or 2B, even as others make their return.

League size recommendation: 14-team leagues

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