Milwaukee’s Best, Part 2: The 50 Best To Play For Braves, Brewers: 40-31

Darryl Hamilton, shown on a 1991 Fleer baseball card.

36. Darryl Hamilton, RF-CF

Brewers 1988, 1990-95

Darryl Hamilton was an 11th-round pick by the Brewers in the 1986 amateur draft out of Nicholls State University in Louisiana, but found himself on the fast track.

He debuted in the majors in June 1988, but struggled at the plate and spent all of 1989 at Triple-A Denver.

Hamilton returned to the bigs in 1990 and never left, breaking out in 1991 with a .311/.361/.385 campaign that included 16 stolen bases.

He went on to swipe 41 bags in 1992 while hitting .298/.356/.400 and has a strong return in 1995 after missing much of the 1994 campaign after Tommy John surgery.

Hamilton was a regular in right and center field while in Milwaukee, where he was seventh in the AL in triples in 1992 and eighth in that category in 1995. His 41 stolen bases in 1992 were ninth in the league and he was seventh in the AL in at-bats per strikeout in 1995.

Hamilton led the Brewers as a free agent, signing with the Texas Rangers in December 1995. He would join the San Francisco Giants as a free agent in January 1997 and was traded to the Colorado Rockies in July 1998.

He re-signed with the Rockies as a free agent in November 1998, but was traded to the New York Mets in July 1999. Returning to Colorado a third time after his release from the Mets in July 2001, Hamilton retired when he was let go by the Rockies later the same month.

Hamilton is now an analyst with MLB Network and served as a part-time color analyst on Brewers radio broadcasts last season.

Here are Hamilton’s statistics from his seven seasons with the Brewers:

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/18/2015.

Next: 35. A Big-Time Slugger