North Shore Nine

Henry Davis has not had the auspicious start fans had hoped for after a tremendous spring. In his 30 at-bats in the young season, he has managed just four hits: a pair of singles and a pair of doubles. Add to that his four walks and eleven strikeouts, it has been a rough two weeks for the young catcher. Defensively, where he surprised some in ST, he has also been solid, but maybe not good. He has allowed four steals with none caught stealing and has an error to add to it. Baseball Savant has him rated as poor in Framing and CS above average, with an average ranking for Blocks above average. Large caveat: it is early in the season, and he has only played eight games of the eleven so far. Nevertheless, the question is: what can he do to improve on what could be called a dismal start at the plate?

The obvious answer is he needs to start hitting the fastball better. It is the most common pitch he has faced this season so far, but he is only hitting .087 against it. Last year, he was hitting .234 against it, which isn’t ideal but is far better. For example, this year, Bryan Reynolds is hitting .290 off of fastballs, whereas last year he hit .282 over the full season against them. Now, Davis should not be expected, yet, to hit as well as Reynolds, but it shows the vast difference between the two.

On the more positive side, Davis is rated great on his chase percentage and above average on his walk rate. If he can keep those up, then the bat should come along. He has been a dominant hitter at all of his stops in his professional career. While he struggled a bit last year, he has made adjustments. With a few more, he should be able to become at least an average hitter, and for this season, that will be good enough.

Defensively, he has not been as bad as the metrics show. While he currently sits at -1 fielding runs above average, this should change. He has been far from a liability, and the pitchers seem to resonate with him. The intangibles of his catching seem to be what is most impressive. The Pirates pitching staff has been mostly, very good to start this season. While that is on them on how they pitch, Davis has a big part to play in that. So while the defensive metrics are not friendly at the moment, the staff is, and the team is playing very well.

Davis is only in his second season in the majors, some early-season struggles are nothing to be surprised about or concerned by. If they continue into May and beyond, then things will need to be looked at more closely. But he has the attention and respect of the staff, as well as of his teammates. The group is, at the moment, having fun. They have gelled and are not only playing good baseball but doing so with a loose but focused attitude. A lot of that starts with the player calling the games and working the staff. If Davis keeps that going, the rest should follow.