Demilio: Henry Davis Making ‘Competition’ Easy Choice for Pirates (+)
The words spoken by Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton during the early portion of spring training certainly raised a few eyebrows.
Henry Davis was presumed by many — myself included — to be the Pirates’ starting catcher for 2024 in wake of Endy Rodriguez’s season-ending injury.
Even the addition of veteran backstop Yasmani Grandal seemed to simply to give the Pirates a reliable backup behind and a mentor to the 24-year-old Davis.
Not so fast.
“It’s a position that we liked to get a veteran guy in there, so we know [Grandal] is gonna catch and then we’re gonna have competition for that other spot,” said Shelton shortly after pitchers and catchers reported last month.
So, Grandal had a hold on one of the two catcher spots on the Pirates’ initial 26-man roster. Davis? Not so much.
To earn a spot on the Pirates’ roster when they head to Miami to face the Marlins on Mar. 28 for opening day, he would need to beat out Jason Delay and Ali Sánchez.
The Pittsburgh Pirates had their reasons, and I understand what they meant. Since being drafted, Davis has spent a total of 81 games behind the plate, including two innings in his debut season with the Pirates last season. That’s hardly anything in the grand scheme of things.
Even with that being said, it was a bad look for the Pirates and the 2021 top pick. No disrespect to either Delay or Sánchez. Both players have strong reputations as defenders and Delay had value for the Pirates in the big leagues last season, but neither moves the needle.
Delay profiles as a backup and Sánchez has yet to carve out a significant role at the major-league level. The latter appeared in a total of seven games in the majors from 2020-21 between the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals. All of his game reps came in the minor leagues the past two seasons.
Now, nearly three weeks since Shelton and general manager Ben Cherington declared a competition for the club’s second catcher, Davis is making the decision look like an easy one.
It’s early, obviously, but Davis has been on a tear at the plate. Through his first six games during Grapefruit League play, Davis is hitting .400 (6 for 15) with a .444 on-base percentage and a 1.000 slug.
He smacked his third home run of spring training in the Pirates’ 7-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday. He’s also driven in eight runs and has drawn two walks.
It’s an encouraging sign for Davis, who struggled at the plate in his first taste of the majors after an impressive track record in the minor leagues.
While Davis showed flashes at times — like when he became the first player to homer twice in the same game agaisnt Shohei Ohtani — the overall numbers were well below-par.
Davis finished his rookie season with a .213/.302/.351 slash. He hit 10 doubles, seven home runs and drove in 24 runs.
When asked at PiratesFest in January about what Davis liked about what he did with the bat last season in Pittsburgh, his answer was simple.
“I think I liked nothing.”
If this spring is a sign of things to come, the Pirates’ lineup is in line for a big boost this year. More importantly, it should overshadow the real reason as to why Davis’ status was in question.
The Pittsburgh Pirates never felt comfortable with Davis behind the plate last season, hence why he caught two innings. If nothing else, he has seemed to at least hold his own behind the plate during spring training.
His performance so far should put the competition nonsense to bed. Davis deserves a spot on the Pirates’ roster when they break camp later this month — as it should have been all along.