Chris Davis is a Keeper

[jtschrei]

I was certainly very dismissive of Davis early in this thread but I'll be happy to be proven wrong. IF he continues to be selective at the plate (only 1 walk but also only 1 strikeout) he'll have a great year. He's pretty streaky though. As good as he was last September he was embarassing in the playoffs.

True, he's very streaky. Still, I think he's the best 1B in the AL after Fielder, Pujols, and Tex. And he's making a fraction of what they make. http://espn.go.com/mlb/players?position=1b&league=al

[isestrex]

I was certainly very dismissive of Davis early in this thread but I'll be happy to be proven wrong. IF he continues to be selective at the plate (only 1 walk but also only 1 strikeout) he'll have a great year. He's pretty streaky though. As good as he was last September he was embarassing in the playoffs.

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25364151

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25359463

He was 5 for 12 in the first 3 games... then hitless in the last 3. So your embarrassment is basically narrowed to 3 games?

[Hank Scorpio]

Guess I have a bad memory. He was swinging at everything during those three games unless my memory is faulty again.

Yes, only embarassing for 3 games then.

He'll be swinging at everything soon enough ... that's what he does!!!!!! Thankfully, he'll probably run into 30-40 of them in between 150+ K's.

Hopefully his defense at 1st base is for real.

[waroriole]

I was certainly very dismissive of Davis early in this thread but I'll be happy to be proven wrong. IF he continues to be selective at the plate (only 1 walk but also only 1 strikeout) he'll have a great year. He's pretty streaky though. As good as he was last September he was embarassing in the playoffs.

Maybe I'm taking this the wrong way, but are you seriously complaining about ONLY one walk so far? The guy is hitting over .600, with 6 XBH in 3 games. I want him going up there swinging when he's in a streak like this.

[waroriole]

Nope. Not complaing. I said he's being selective despite only 1 walk. At least that's what I meant.

Ahh, gotcha. I've only seen the 2nd game, but it did look like he had a great approach at the plate that game.

[Frobby]

Thank you. I don't usually gloat, I think it's bad form, but this is too good to pass up. The thing that pushes me into is that I was hammered last year just because I posted that Davis was a stud. Oh, no, no, no. He can't be. Let me get my slide rule out and prove you wrong. I said that he was young and let's give him a chance, give him regular playing time and see what happens. A lot of people actually said that we should trade him because he'll never amount to anything and used his stats from Texas to prove it.

Of course, 3 games don't prove anything, but your right, the way he ended last year combined with this years start give us a pretty good sign.

As for stocks, you may be right. Remember, I was the guy last year who predicted a division win on opening day. This year I'm predicting 97 wins. I'm thinking of flying my son to Vegas to drop 5000 on the over/under. 74 wins? For this team?

Last year Davis had three very hot streaks, alternating with some very cold streaks. However the final hot streak was notable because (1) it was longer than the others (39 games or so compared to about 20 games for the others), and (2) he walked far more often than in his prior hot streaks. It will take a while before we know whether Davis can avoid the kind of prolonged cold spells he had last year (15 games at .588 OPS in May, 44 games of .582 OPS from mid-June to mid-August), or at least, shorten them and have the hot streaks be more predominant. But, I'm somewhat optimistic.

[xian4]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>No Oriole has homered in first 4 games of a season. In MLB history, just 3 have. Willie Mays (71), Mark McGwire (98), & Nelson Cruz (11).</p>— Steve Melewski (@masnSteve) <a href="

">April 5, 2013</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[OriolesMagic83]

I'm just glad to see the O's hit on one of these young players they took a chance on. I can't remember, was he part of the Koji trade? I'm always excited by O's prospects/young players, but I'm usually disappointed--Loewen, Gibbons, etc. Maybe someday McLouth and Davis will be on a statue together. McLouth of course being carried by Davis. :2yay-thumb:

[waroriole]

I'm just glad to see the O's hit on one of these young players they took a chance on. I can't remember, was he part of the Koji trade? I'm always excited by O's prospects/young players, but I'm usually disappointed--Loewen, Gibbons, etc. Maybe someday McLouth and Davis will be on a statue together. McLouth of course being carried by Davis. :2yay-thumb:

Davis and Hunter for Koji.

Brilliant trade.

[DrungoHazewood]

<IFRAME id=twitter-widget-0 title="Embedded Tweet" style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ddd 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #eee 1px solid; MIN-WIDTH: 220px; DISPLAY: block; MAX-WIDTH: 99%; MARGIN: 10px 0px; BORDER-LEFT: #ddd 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #bbb 1px solid; borderRadius: 10px; boxShadow: 0 1px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15)" frameBorder=0 width=500 scrolling=no height=206 allowTransparency class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" allowtransparency="true"></IFRAME>

<SCRIPT src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset=utf-8 async></SCRIPT>

Marty Cordova, Melvin Mora, Marcus Thames, Richard Hidalgo, some guy named Jose Castillo, and about 20 others have homered in five consecutive games. Chris Davis has the #want to crush them all. Yes, I just read a lot of Jason Parks, who is kind of a postmodern, baseball-centric, tweet-enabled Hunter S. Thompson.

<IFRAME id=rufous-sandbox style="DISPLAY: none" frameBorder=0 scrolling=no allowTransparency allowtransparency="true"></IFRAME>

[DrungoHazewood]

Marty Cordova, Melvin Mora, Marcus Thames, Richard Hidalgo, some guy named Jose Castillo, and about 20 others have homered in five consecutive games. Chris Davis has the #want to crush them all. Yes, I just read a lot of Jason Parks, who is kind of a postmodern, baseball-centric, tweet-enabled Hunter S. Thompson.

That Drungo guy is an idiot, because he failed to recognize that Chris Davis already has one of the longest homer streaks in history with 6, last September-October. But I still believe. Chris Davis has the #want to crush Chris Davis.

[DrungoHazewood]

Players who've homered in six or more consecutive games include Jose Cruz Jr., Kevin Mench (7!), Morgan Ensberg, Jason Bay, Dale Long (8!), Walker Cooper, and Carlos Pena.

[andrewrickli]

I made a thread earlier this spring about how Davis looked poised for a breakout. He was seeing the ball great, and he wasn't just free swinging. He was waiting for his pitch, and he was driving it.

Like I've said before, he will hit 40 HR. Maybe this year, and he will drive in 100 RBI. Davis could be a legitimate MVP candidate if he starts to walk more...he is that good.

[Hank Scorpio]

Players who've homered in six or more consecutive games include Jose Cruz Jr., Kevin Mench (7!), Morgan Ensberg, Jason Bay, Dale Long (8!), Walker Cooper, and Carlos Pena.

Kevin Mench!!!!!!!!! There's a name from the recent past. Wow.

[Hank Scorpio]

I made a thread earlier this spring about how Davis looked poised for a breakout. He was seeing the ball great, and he wasn't just free swinging. He was waiting for his pitch, and he was driving it.

Like I've said before, he will hit 40 HR. Maybe this year, and he will drive in 100 RBI. Davis could be a legitimate MVP candidate if he starts to walk more...he is that good.

That you, Demper???