Josh Hamilton Strikezone Constellation: The Crooked Drone

On the one hand, Josh Hamilton’s enthusiasm for swinging — documented in some depth recently by FanGraphs managing editor Dave Cameron — has very likely hurt his ability to produce at a high level offensively. On the other, it allows one to make amusing constellations from the pitches at which Hamilton has swung.

Yesterday, we considered just such a constellation — in that case, of what appears to be an ugly fedora — from all of Josh Hamilton’s swings against Chicago White Sox pitchers this past Saturday.

Here, now, we see another entry to what may or may not become an ongoing series — in this case, informed by data from Hamilton’s May 8th game against Bud Norris, Jose Veras, and the Houston Astros (box). The constellation here bears more than a passing resemblance to the alien spacecraft from Disney’s 1986 film Flight of the Navigator, just tilted on its side a little. The ship, voiced by Paul Reubens, identifies itself as a Trimaxian Drone Ship from the planet Phaelon — which ship the Navigator in question (played by a young Joey Cramer) nicknames “Max.”

Credit to Texas Leaguers for the strikezone plot.