Twins add Billy Hamilton, Austin Davis as September callups

For the third time in four seasons, the Twins have stolen fewer bases than any major-league team. They probably can't change that in the final 33 games of 2022 — but on Thursday they gave themselves a chance.

Billy Hamilton, who has stolen more bases than any MLB player over the past decade, was added to the Twins' roster as a September call-up on Thursday and will be available when they begin a three-game series against the White Sox in Chicago on Friday.

Under roster rules adopted two years ago, teams must carry 28 players after Sept. 1, and no more than 14 of them can be pitchers. Most teams utilize the expansion to call up players from their Class AAA affiliate, but the Twins chose to go outside their organization for their two additions. Hamilton, a 10-year veteran outfielder who was released by the Marlins in mid-August, signed a free-agent contract with the Twins last Saturday.

The second addition is lefthanded pitcher Austin Davis, who was claimed off waivers from the Red Sox on Monday.

Hamilton, who turns 32 next Friday, is known for his range and defensive ability, and addresses the Twins' recent shortage of outfielders, especially with Byron Buxton on the injured list and utility man Nick Gordon needed in the infield lately. The owner of 321 career steals, more than any player in Twins history, Hamilton also gives manager Rocco Baldelli the flexibility to pinch-run late in games for some of the slower players on his team.

The former Reds center fielder owns a career .239 batting average but has hit just .209 since leaving Cincinnati in 2018, while playing for six different teams. He was 1 for 7 in two tuneup games with the St. Paul Saints over the weekend, with a double and, yes, a stolen base.

Davis, 29, will be pitching for his fourth team since debuting in 2018. He enjoyed a strong start in the Red Sox bullpen, allowing only one run over 22 2/3 innings from mid-April to mid-June this season. Boston even utilized him as an opener three times, and he pitched well in the role, throwing 6 1/3 scoreless innings against the Brewers, Rays and Rangers, allowing one hit and striking out eight.

But he has allowed 22 runs (19 earned) in 17 2/3 innings since the All-Star break, a 9.68 ERA that led the Red Sox to cut ties with him this week.

"I'm still learning about him. He's a guy [whose] name has been brought up by [President of Baseball Operations] Derek [Falvey] and the [front office] a couple of times, a guy that we've liked," Baldelli said. "I can't wait to work with him."

The 28-man September limit, now in its third season, is a radical departure from most of baseball history. For decades, teams had the option to carry every player on their 40-man roster for the season's final month, and several added at least a dozen.

But amid complaints that the addition of so many inexperienced players could affect pennant races by reducing the competitiveness of non-playoff teams, baseball scaled back roster sizes.

Given that even minimum-salary big-leaguers earn nearly $3,750 per day in 2022, some team owners may appreciate the savings in salaries and costs by not ballooning the payroll for a month, though minor league seasons no longer end on Labor Day, as they traditionally did until the new rules were instituted.

Managers, however, miss the options that extra players give them.

"I like the idea of having a little more coverage, but I do think that the rules as they are now make more sense," Baldelli said Wednesday. "You want everything, but you can't always have everything. You want the extra length in the bullpen. … But September games, they didn't feel like actual, real baseball games. And that maybe hurt the game for a little while."

Davis and Hamilton needed to be added to the 40-man roster, which the Twins accomplished by waiving infielder Tim Beckham last week and transferring outfielder Trevor Larnach from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list. The latter move is just a paper transaction, given that Larnach, who began a rehab assignment on Thursday in Fort Myers, has already missed more than 60 days since undergoing core-muscle surgery in June.

Still, the Twins now have 12 players on the 60-day injured list, eight of them pitchers. They don't count against the 40-man limit during the season, but the Twins will have to find roster space for, or dispense with, each of them come November.

One historical note to Hamilton's biography: though he is MLB's stolen base leader over the last decade, the new Twin isn't even the most accomplished base-stealer named Billy Hamilton. Another player with the same name led the pre-1900 National League in steals four times, and amassed a career total of 914. That Hamilton, who retired in 1901 after 14 years with the Kansas City Cowboys, Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Beaneaters, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1961.