Hampson will take his speed against anyone

April 18th, 2021

DENVER -- The Rockies’ loves a speed challenge.

Fast knows fast, of course, so Hampson admires the swiftness of White Sox center fielder Billy Hamilton. But Hampson would still line up in the blocks against Hamilton, just to see who would win.

“He looks like he's flying out there,” said Hampson, an outfielder, infielder and sometimes leadoff hitter. “He's got some long legs -- longer legs than me. But I don’t know. I’d be willing to race anybody, and see what happens.”

How does Hampson, whose four stolen bases entering Sunday were tied for the National League lead, rank on the Rockies? The team also has the injured Chris Owings, who is built similarly to Hampson, and the long-limbed Raimel Tapia. There’s also Trevor Story and Sam Hilliard, big men who are often found in football habitats.

The Statcast sprint speed leaderboard, which takes into account all maximum-speed runs, has Hampson tops on the Rockies and tied with the Twins’ Byron Buxton and the Rangers’ Eli White for fourth fastest at 29.5 feet per second. No other Rockies player shows up until Tapia at No. 51 (27.9) and Owings at No. 58 (27.8).

But on the Statcast 90-foot split leaderboard, tops on the Rockies is Story, who tied for eighth fastest at 3.93 seconds with the Rays’ Randy Arozarena and Manuel Margot, and the Phillies’ J.T. Realmuto. Bigger players such as Story and Hilliard show their speed on extra-base hits.

As anyone with speed knows, you will always pick yourself over the sprinter next to you -- unless proven otherwise.

“The numbers can back it up a little bit -- I would say I'm fastest, and I don’t know if these guys will tell you any different,” Hampson said. “Me and Story have raced before. He got me once, I got him once -- it was all about the start. We might have to settle it for the third race. But when Sam gets it going, you can see how much ground he can gain with those legs.“