Josh Hamilton is convinced his body is ready to be a big-leaguer again, now, he's just trying to get his swing ready before he makes his Rangers return soon, most likely next week on an East Coast road trip.
Hamilton's first game in Round Rock was scheduled for Wednesday night but was rained out, meaning he'll have a chance at about eight at-bats on Thursday in a doubleheader. So far with the Express, he has two hits and a couple of RBIs as he is trying to relax his swing before making his big return to Arlington.
“To work on a couple of things before the game and then be able to carry them into my at-bats felt good,” Hamilton told the Dallas Morning News. “It had been tough for me to stay back, but I was better able to do that.”
Hamilton said his nerves and adrenaline have made his swing so far a bit of a mess with too much movement, but his performance Tuesday night featured a two-run single off a soft-tossing lefty that required Hamilton to sit back and wait on a pitch, and the result was a good one.
Hamilton seems to have the right approach mentally as he prepares for what is sure to be an interesting road trip in the ravenous baseball environments of New York and Boston, and that might not even compare to what will await him back at home against the Red Sox with what is sure to be a split crowd as far as Hamilton support in Arlington.
"Just be competitive and don't give at-bats away, just play hard, be a good teammate, do all those things that you need to do to fit in with the team,'' he told the Associated Press.
