Josh Hamilton is tearing the cover off the baseball this year.
His numbers on the season are off the charts: his batting average is above .400, he has 18 home runs and 45 RBI, and an OPS around 1.300.
They reached those gargantuan levels after a recent six-game span that included 9 home runs, with a record-tying four of them coming in a single game.
Hamilton was supposed to be winning MVP awards and leading his team to the World Series as a member of the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays, but numerous off-the-field issues derailed him.
Now he's back to playing at a high level for the Texas Rangers and on the cusp of not only breaking records, but signing a fat new contract when he hits free agency this winter.
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays drafted Josh Hamilton out of high school first overall in 1999, giving him a then record signing bonus of $3.96 million
Source: Baseball Reference and WaPo
The expansion Devil Rays were quickly encouraged by Hamilton's minor league success and were looking forward to having their first bona fide star
Source: Baseball Reference
But Hamilton started drinking heavily and using cocaine in 2001 at the age of 20
Source: WaPo
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