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2026 Atlanta Braves Player Review: Ian Hamilton
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- 2026 Atlanta Braves Player Review: Ian Hamilton
If you blinked, you may have missed Ian Hamilton pitching for the Atlanta Braves in 2026. To the extent anyone remembers him, it's probably for his three seasons with the Yankees (one of which was very good), but he did have a few cups of coffee with the Braves this season.
How Acquired
In the 2025-2026 offseason, the Yankees non-tendered Hamilton, leading to the Braves scooping him up on a non-guaranteed MLB contract in mid-December.
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What were the expectations?
Considering the Yankees non-tendered him, there had to be a reason why. That reason wasn't very complicated: Hamilton was a replacement level relief arm in 2025, with a 104 ERA-, 103 FIP-, and 105 xFIP-.
Hamilton made just 15 MLB appearances from 2018-2022, but busted out with a 1.1 fWAR season in his first year with the Yankees in 2023. Unfortunately, he took a step back in 2024, and by 2025, wasn't particularly helpful to a big league team's cause. Stuff like his xERA also trended downward.
The Braves likely gambled on the idea that even if Hamilton couldn't get back to 2023 form, even his 2024 form (95 ERA-, 72 FIP-, 90 xFIP-) would suit them quite well, perhaps as a lower-leverage bullpen piece.
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2026 Results
Hamilton ended up functioning as a yo-yo piece as the Braves got through the 2026 season. He was cut part of the way through Spring Training and outrighted to the minors, recalled in mid-April, designated for assignment (and eventually outrighted again) six days later, then recalled-DFAed-outrighted again in a two-week stretch in late June and early July.
He threw just an inning in his first stint with the club, and stuck around for three appearances in his second stint. He didn't really give the team much of a reason to keep him around: he was awful in his one-inning appearance in his first stint (1/2 K/BB ratio in a blowout) and then a mixed bag in his second stint (one great outing, one poor outing, one so-so outing).
All in all, Hamilton completed 4 2/3 big league innings in 2026, his lowest total since 2022. He put up a 184 ERA-, 80 FIP-, and 94 xFIP-, "earning" 0.0 fWAR in the process. He pitched okay, got charged with a bunch of runs, and spent most of his season toiling in Gwinnett.
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What went right?
His second stint went pretty well, with a 58 ERA-, 55 FIP-, and 64 xFIP-. You'd think the Braves would have been interested in keeping him around a bit longer after some success against the Padres and Cardinals, but nope. Nor did they see much of a reason to call him back up down the stretch.
His best outing by WPA was a scoreless frame while the Braves were down three runs to the Cardinals. His best outing in terms of pitching was a 14-pitch, strikeout-strikeout-groundout frame against the Padres, also with the Braves down three runs.
What went wrong?
Beyond the above, there isn't too much to say. His command was terrible (tiny sample). His pitch shapes were bad (tiny sample). His xERA was awful (tiny sample), though that's not necessarily reflective of pitching performance. His slider had spin deflection marks so insane that it almost feels like a small-sample data error, but those didn't help him succeed in any fashion. He actually got a fair bit of chase and whiffs when batters chased, but he also struggled to hit the zone or miss bats within it.
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And, his first outing of the season, where he came in with a two-run deficit and left with a five-run deficit, didn't help anything and possibly soured the Braves on him before he could even manage to get going.
On top of that, he didn't really distinguish himself while waiting for another callup at Gwinnett — the 3.25 FIP is nice-ish, but the above-4.00 xFIP for a 31-year-old in his seventh stint at the Triple-A level, not so much.
2027 Outlook
Hamilton finished out the year at Gwinnett and is now a free agent. Given that he's been trending down since 2023, and now projects somewhere between straight-up replacement level and below average reliever (if one figures the ghost of 2024 can be evoked once more), he's squarely in minor league deal territory at this point.
