Josh Hamilton, a former American League Most Valuable Player for the Texas Rangers, is accused of throwing his eldest daughter on a bed and beating her, according to an arrest warrant filed by the Keller Police Department.
Hamilton, 38, turned himself into Tarrant County authorities on Wednesday and posted bail of $35,000, Tarrant County Court spokesman Justin Davis said.
Hamilton faces one count of injury to a child, a third-degree felony in Texas. People convicted of a third-degree felony in the state face a possible sentence of between two and 10 years in prison.
His next court date has yet to be determined, police spokesman Capt. Chad Allen said.
CNN attempted to reach Hamilton on Wednesday evening but was unsuccessful.
Child protective services alerted police to the alleged late September incident, the arrest warrant says.
The daughter told investigators that her father was upset at a comment she made to him and threw a full water bottle into her chest, the affidavit filed with the warrant says. She says Hamilton also threw a chair that hit her leg. She alleges that he pulled her from a chair and she injured her hip when she fell from the chair.
Hamilton carried his daughter over his shoulder to her room and threw her on the bed, the affidavit says.
The daughter alleges he used a hand to push her face against the bed and then hit and slap her on her legs. She says he picked her up by her sweatshirt, which tore, the affidavit says. He then hit her some more on her back and scratched her, the daughter alleges.
Hamilton allegedly told her: “I hope you go in front of the (expletive) judge and tell him what a terrible dad I am so I don’t have to see you anymore and you don’t ever have to come to my house again.”
The girl told her mother and police say they were contacted by child protective services.
Hamilton played for three major league teams during his nine-year career. He won the American League’s Most Valuable Player award while with the Rangers in 2010 when he led the league with a spectacular .359 batting average. He was an All-Star in five seasons. He played in two World Series but his team at the time, the Rangers, lost both.
Hamilton was the first pick in the 1999 draft by the Tampa Bay Rays, but didn’t play his first game in the major leagues until 2007 after he signed with the Cincinnati Reds. After one productive season there, the Rangers sought him in a trade.
He told The Players Tribune in August that he spoke in the offseason about his battle with substance abuse.
“I had worked through substance abuse issues, gotten myself into shape, and put up some numbers in Cincy that showed I could still play this game,” he wrote. “But I knew I remained a work in progress. It was still a day-by-day kind of deal.”
The Rangers sent people to hear him speak, he wrote, then traded for him.
He spent five seasons there before signing with the Los Angeles Angels, then came back to the Rangers for a final season after being traded.
Keller is about 17 miles north of Fort Worth.