Hamilton doesn't throw away his shot: 1st MLB hit a HR

MINNEAPOLIS -- The crowd of 24,133 at Target Field was mostly subdued for much of a chilly afternoon after Minnesota fell behind early -- aside from some scattered cheers when the Vikings beat the Lions across town -- with an 11-run inning by the Royals against the Mariners serving as the only barrier between the Twins and mathematical elimination from the playoffs.

Then, Caleb Hamilton gave everybody something to cheer for -- in the stands and dugout alike.

More than two months after the start of Hamilton’s big league career, the 27-year-old catcher and utility man finally collected his first hit in the Majors by crushing a first-pitch fastball into the first row of the left-field bleachers in the eighth inning, earning a big round of applause and hugs from his teammates in the highlight of an otherwise difficult 10-3 loss to the Angels, the Twins’ ninth loss in their past 11 games.

“It’s the big leagues; it’s not easy,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “No one’s handing you anything. Seeing him go out there and just whack one like that and really get ahold of it, everyone enjoys those things. Every guy in the dugout, everyone in this organization, kind of waits for those types of moments so you can celebrate it with someone who’s worked really hard to get to this point in his career.”

Hamilton had been 0-for-12 as a big leaguer before the homer. He made his MLB debut all the way back on July 17 but had only notched nine at-bats and 12 plate appearances in total entering Sunday’s game, in part due to a three-week stint back with Triple-A St. Paul in August, but also mainly due to the team's extremely sporadic usage of Hamilton since he was called back up Aug. 23.

With two other veteran catchers ahead of him on the depth chart in Gary Sánchez and Sandy León (not counting Ryan Jeffers, who is on the IL), in this big league stint, Hamilton was used almost exclusively as a defensive replacement and pinch-runner and had only seen singular plate appearances on Aug. 29, Sept. 3 and Sept. 19 before he finally got a start behind the plate Thursday, drawing two walks but remaining hitless in his three plate appearances.

Hamilton earned another start in Sunday’s game, when he struck out in his first three plate appearances before he stepped to the plate against left-hander José Quijada with two outs in the eighth. He got a first-pitch fastball at 93.4 mph, middle-middle, and knew he made good contact.

But it took him a second to realize just how good the contact had been.

“I knew that I hit it well,” Hamilton said. “But I kind of lost it when I looked up because I looked straight into the lights. But I just looked down at the left fielder, and he started turning around and jogging. I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I think I just hit that.' It was a pretty incredible feeling.”

Hamilton had flashed much more power in the Minors this season, his sixth in the Minors, as he posted career-highs in homers (11), slugging percentage (.442) and OPS (.809) in 62 games with Triple-A St. Paul. It just took him a while to showcase that on the game’s biggest stage -- but he hadn’t let that weigh too heavily on his mind, he said.

"My buddies and I, we would talk about it, but it wasn't something that I was super focused on. Sometimes, it can be taxing on the mind. But I was just trying to be like, 'Hey, I'm going to go up and take great at-bats and do what I can in my situations and see what happens.'"

That homer made Hamilton the only 23rd round Draft selection in Twins history to notch a hit (not counting Derrick White, whom Minnesota selected in the 23rd round in 1989 but didn’t sign, later appearing in the Majors as a sixth-round selection by the Expos).

And because of the Twins’ extreme injury woes this season, many of the teammates who had seen Hamilton’s grind up the Minor League system were there to greet him in an energetic line of high fives and embraces -- and that made the moment all the more special.

"That was pretty incredible,” Hamilton said. “There's a lot of guys I've played with this whole year in the dugout. It was a very welcoming and loving celebration.”