The Royals have built their roster around speed this season, and two of their fastest players say they’re ready to try to beat “The Freeze” -- if the Braves’ promotional sensation is up for the challenge.
“I think we should make that happen,” Royals center fielder Billy Hamilton said during Thursday’s episode of MLB Network’s Intentional Talk. Hosts Stephen Nelson and Kevin Millar proposed the three-way race between Hamilton and teammate Terrance Gore -- two of baseball’s very fastest players -- and Atlanta’s famous Freeze character (real name: Nigel Talton, a security guard, grounds-crew member and former track star from Iowa Wesleyan University), who has beaten many Braves fans -- often in hilarious fashion -- in foot races around the warning track at SunTrust Park.
The Royals will visit the Braves for a two-game set July 23-24 on The Freeze’s home turf. Atlanta’s star attraction is no slouch; he ran a sub-10.5-second 100-meter race in college and finished third in the 60-meter dash at the NAIA Track Championships. But he might have his work cut out for him with Hamilton and Gore. Hamilton has finished within the top 10 on Statcast’s sprint speed leaderboard in each of the technology’s first four seasons of tracking, and he topped out at a 30.2 feet per second average in 2016. The Major League average for sprint speed is 27 feet per second, and anything above 30 is considered the absolute cream of the crop.
Gore’s limited playing time over the course of his career has kept him from qualifying for the official sprint speed leaderboard, but that could change this season with a greater role in the Royals’ offense. Behind the scenes, roughly one-quarter of Gore’s runs tracked by Statcast from 2015-18 were tracked at the elite benchmark of 30 ft/sec or faster -- a higher rate than any other player in that span. Gore has not qualified for the 2019 sprint speed leaderboard yet, but he has already tallied six bolts (runs of 30 ft/sec or faster on the bases) this season. He is 36-for-42 in stolen-base attempts (regular and postseason) as a Major Leaguer.
Gore might also have the advantage of familiarity: He and The Freeze grew up near each other in Georgia, and they were both high school track stars in the area.
“I know the guy [The Freeze] kind of personally," Gore said. "I messaged him yesterday after we got on Intentional Talk. He was like, ‘That would be cool.’”
Will The Freeze accept Hamilton and Gore’s challenge? Would the Royals permit two of their fastest players to air it out in a race?
“We said we [would race The Freeze], but I’m sure the Royals are not going to allow us to race just because injuries could happen," Gore said.
There’s still some questions to be answered, but there’s no doubt that we would tune in.