Ian Hamilton will hear teammates chatting about organizational transactions, speculating call-ups or ruminating over media insight, and at this point, he’s learned that it’s best to tune it all out.
Even recently as Hamilton, a Skyview grad and now closer for the Chicago White Sox Triple-A affiliate Charlotte Knights, rises through the system thanks to a strong season in the minor leagues and his name pops up in media speculation for a big league call-up.
Especially now.
“I stay far away from all that because there are people who stay on that every day and they talk about it and I’m like, ‘why do you care?,’ ” Hamilton said. “I just go day-to-day and try not to think, ‘why am I not getting called up?’ I never feel bad for myself like that. It’s always like, alright, let’s just work harder.”
Hamilton, 23, has seen major improvement in his second season with the White Sox organization. The right-handed closer started out the season with Double-A Birmingham, where he posted a 2-1 record with a 1.78 ERA and completed 12 of 13 save opportunities in 21 appearances.
That garnered him a promotion to Triple-A on June 21, and since then, he’s carried the momentum.
In eight appearances through Monday, he secured four saves in five opportunities and posted a 3.12 ERA with a 3-2 record.
His game day routine, which includes a morning lift and run, has gone largely unchanged since he entered the minors. His mechanics, he said, have been a key focus.
Aside from his windup, which he reverted back to the simpler form from his college days at Washington State that emphasized being aggressive with his hips, he hasn’t made a drastic change in his game, rather, steady improvements.
He honed in on his slider, which he wanted to be able to throw no matter the count, and his changeup during the offseason. Once spring training began, he immediately noticed a difference.
“I started to notice during my first live BP … I was like, ‘oh, alright, that’s working,’ and just went from there,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton, an 11th round selection in 2016, has been on a steady rise ever since.
After not being ranked on the White Sox prospect board in 2017, he entered the 2018 preseason at 21 and has since risen to the 18th best prospect.
That comes to no surprise for Gregg Swenson, the now-King’s Way Christian coach who was Hamilton’s former pitching coach at WSU.
Hamilton, he said, possesses the perfect attitude for a closer. Swenson recalls readying to walk out to the mound to talk to Hamilton, the WSU career saves leader, and having the pitcher look him off.
“He epitomized everything I wanted pitchers to be,” Swenson said.
When the NCAA changed from a high-seamed ball to a flat-seamed ball in a 2015 effort to boost the overall number of home runs, Swenson remembers Hamilton taking it as a challenge.
“He looks at me and says, ‘I’m going to throw 98 with this thing,’ ” Swenson said. And he did.
Hamilton was the ace and leadoff hitter for a Skyview team that won its first state tournament in program history in 2013. He became the all-time saves leader in two seasons at WSU.
Now Hamilton’s next challenge is getting his first major league call-up which, according to NBC Sports-Chicago, could happen before the end of the year.
According to Hamilton’s agent Nik Lubisich, the safest bet for when a call-up might happen is Sept. 21, when the Major League’s active rosters expand from 25-man to a 40-man.
Rest assured, Hamilton won’t be stalking the waiver wire in the meantime.
“Just hearing other people talk about it stresses me out …” Hamilton said. “If it’s making you upset, you should probably just play better.”
That starts with working harder, which Hamilton says is his key to success.
“Pretty much my whole career, even growing up, in any sport, I’m always trying to outwork everyone around me,” he said. “I’m not trying to show anyone up, but I want to be the best at what I’m doing where I am.”
