Henry Davis Trending Up? Pirates Catcher Hopeful Turnaround is Near
The Pittsburgh Pirates have been adamant in recent weeks that Henry Davis’ production hasn’t matched the strides he’s taken offensively.
At least for a day, the faith they’ve shown in Davis paid off. The Pirates catcher was the hero on Monday against Chicago Cubs by hitting a go-ahead solo home run in the seventh inning, which proved to be the difference in a 2-1 win.
“Great to see him be rewarded in a huge moment, to hit that home run there,” manager Don Kelly said after the win. “He’s worked extremely hard to get his swing to a much better place. Unfortunately, he hasn’t had the success in results but the approach, the process has been so good. It’s really great to see him have a moment like that in such a big situation.”
Davis hasn’t had a lot to show for of late, but Monday’s home run was his second in his last three games. On Thursday in St. Louis, he hit a solo shot off Cardinals reliever Justin Bruihl, which put the Pirates ahead 5-1 in an eventual 6-2 win.
After an 0-for-3 performance against the Blue Jays in Toronto on Saturday, Davis connected on a 413-foot homer to left off Cubs reliever Trent Thornton on Memorial Day at PNC Park, again giving him the results he’s been expecting.
“Process-wise, it’s definitely been the best month I’ve had in the big leagues,” Davis said after the game. “It’s super frustrating to not have the results that I thought would line up with those over the course of time. Just trying to stay diligent, work hard and be prepared.”
There are signs that Davis has been in a better spot in the month of May than he had been earlier in the season, or in his career, for that matter.
His strikeout rate is down while his walk rate is up. Judging by the eye test, he has hit some balls hard, but either on the ground or right at guys for outs.
Davis has noticed a difference.
“Obviously, there’s certain things in your control and out of your control as a hitter,” he explained. “For me, coming into the year, I wanted to hit the ball harder. I wanted to strike out less, take more walks. I felt like I didn’t necessarily do that the first month. It was a little bit better but this month, the quality of contact, taking walks, not striking out a lot and hitting the ball harder and barrel rate, etc. Just hasn’t turned into results necessarily.”
While Davis’ frustrations over a lack of results can be felt, there are two things that make things a little bit easier to swallow — his preparation and metrics not quite as obvious as the statistics that go on the back of a baseball card.
On the year, Davis is hitting just .144 with a .534 OPS, but he believes a turnaround could be coming, and Monday’s home run might have been the biggest indication yet.
“It’s easier in this day and era because you can see it when you get home and watch your at-bats back,” he said when asked how hard it is to trust the process when results aren’t there. “When you hit a ball 109 [mph] and it gets caught, you can see the indications that that will work in the future. It’s just a testament to stay the course…The stuff I’ve been doing – hitting the ball harder, hitting the ball well, taking my walks and striking out less – that’s indication of stuff in the future, for sure.”
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