The injury woes for Angels OF Josh Hamilton continue as he will likely hit the DL again to start the 2015 season. The Angels announced that Hamilton will have surgery to repair the AC joint in his right shoulder, causing him to miss six-eight weeks. That timeline has him missing at least the beginning of Spring Training and makes his start for Opening Day on April 6th in Seattle questionable at best. Hamilton’s shoulder injury lingered in September and recurred when he started with full batting practice sessions.
Fantasy Impact
Although this is bad, albeit common, news for those looking to draft Hamilton or those that kept him in dynasty leagues, at least it explains the poor end of the 2014 season. He played in only one of the Angels’ final 23 games of the regular season and then went 0-for-13 in the team’s ALDS loss to the Orioles. Hamilton has had an awful two-year tenure with the Angels in which he has hit .255 with only 31 home runs and 123 RBI. Hamilton has seen his OPS drop by more than 200 points from his last three years in Texas (.952 to .741) as well and has not clicked with the new lineup in Los Angeles. The shame is that between No. 1 fantasy target Mike Trout, the very solid Kole Calhoun, and Hamilton, the Angels could have the best fantasy OF in baseball. There are opportunities in Los Angeles for sleepers in Hamilton’s stead. C.J. Cron and Matt Joyce will get opportunities in LF/DH roles with Hamilton shelved and each have strengths. Joyce has a career. 819 OPS against right handed pitchers and Cron had 11 home runs in limited play during his rookie season in 2014. Each should be considered as decent stop gaps in the right matchups.
