White Sox Outright Billy Hamilton

The White Sox have outrighted outfielder Billy Hamilton off the 40-man roster, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. Chicago hadn’t previously announced he was designated for assignment; the move drops the club’s 40-man count to 38.

Hamilton made three appearances, all as a pinch-runner, after the Sox selected his contract in early May. He strained his left hamstring a few days after being called up and landed on the 10-day injured list. Hamilton started a rehab stint with Triple-A Charlotte last week. He has well over five years of major league service, so the Sox would’ve had to carry him on the MLB roster or put him on waivers once he was ready to return.

They’ve chosen the latter course of action. The outright suggests Hamilton already went unclaimed. Players with three-plus years of service have the ability to decline an outright assignment in favor of minor league free agency. The team hasn’t announced whether he’ll do so. If he were to stay in the organization, he’d return to Charlotte, where he has a .158/.294/.228 line in 69 trips to the plate.

Hamilton has settled into a journeyman role late in his career. The speedster was an everyday player for the Reds for a half-decade but has appeared for seven different clubs (including two separate stints with the White Sox) going back to the start of the 2019 campaign. While he has a .205/.262/.288 slash in 549 MLB plate appearances over the last five years, he’s stolen 49 bases on 58 attempts during that stretch.