Joshua Holt Hamilton swings his way into second place on my list of top 5 Most Valuable Players. He did not start his major league swinging right away though. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 1999 draft. He played a couple years for their minor league team before he was in a car accident. After the accident he fell in with the wrong crowd and started doing drugs and alcohol. He was required to stay out of baseball on suspensions for a couple years before he was allowed to re-enter the baseball world via the Rule 5 Draft which allowed him to re-enter the baseball world. Hamilton was drafted by the Chicago Cubs and then immediately traded to the Cincinnati Reds for $100,000 in the 2006 draft. Hamilton was in the Reds system for one year, battling various injuries before he was traded to the Texas Rangers. Hamilton was a home run for the Rangers from the start. He came in and started producing right away. He has been an all-star in each of his six seasons in Texas. He has roamed every in of that Texas ballpark playing in all three outfield positions. In Hamilton's last three seasons in Texas, he led them to the post season three times, and the World Series two years in a row from 2010-11. They lost each of those World Series and in 2012 they lost the American League Wild Card Game. Hamilton has been near the top of the home run and runs batted in category validating himself as one of the best hitters in the game today. He had a career high year in batting average batting an amazing .359 in 2010. This past offseason Hamilton parted ways with the Texas Rangers to head to long-time Ranger rival, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He received one of the largest contracts in the history of baseball from them. He will be pairing up with another man on this list, Albert Pujols. I expect Hamilton to flourish this upcoming season in this new environment with another great in Albert.
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