Potent Base-Stealing Red Sox Prospect Undergoes Surgery

There are no more chances to steal bases this season for Boston Red Sox prospect David Hamilton.

The Red Sox announced Friday that the 25-year-old infielder underwent a successful UCL repair on his left thumb Thursday, putting an end to his season. Dr. Thomas Graham performed the operation at the Lehigh Valley Orthopedic Institute.

Hamilton dealt with the thumb injury for most of this season, but broke through to the majors and played in 15 games after Boston called him up in mid-June. He struggled in the big leagues, though, posting a .121 batting average (4-for-33) with no home runs and no RBIs. Hamilton also committed two errors while spending a majority of his team in the field playing shortstop.

Hamilton, who the Red Sox acquired in December of 2021 from the Milwaukee Brewers as part of the trade for Hunter Renfroe, proved to be Boston’s best base-stealing prospect as he used his terrific speed to swipe bags with astonishing regularly with Triple-A Worcester. He recorded 57 stolen bases this year, which set Worcester’s single-season record. That high output comes after Hamilton stole an eye-popping 70 bases with Double-A Portland in 2022, which also set the club’s record.

To go along with his base-stealing prowess, Hamilton finished this season batting .247 with 17 home runs and 54 RBIs for Worcester.

Hamilton is ranked as the 19th-best prospect in the Red Sox farm system by MLB Pipeline.